YOKKAICHI, August 11, 2019

Yuichi Sugita is the champion of the inaugural Yokkaichi Challenger held on hard courts at the Yokkaichi Tennis Center. The No. 5 seed from Japan fought past the tournament’s No. 2 Jason Duckworth of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) in Sunday’s singles final.

Sugita advanced to the championship match with wins over compatriot Yuya Ito, Tsung-Hua Yang of Taipei, South Korean star Hyeon Chung and ITF-entry Sho Shimaburkuro of Japan. In front of packed crowd, the 30-year-old Tokyo resident withstood 13 aces, hitting nine of his own to seal victory in two hours and five minutes.

By lifting his 11th ATP Challenger trophy, his second of the season after Binghamton, Sugita collected $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.

What a finish!

Yuichi Sugita survives James Duckworth in a deciding tie-break to take the crown in Yokkaichi, his second 🏆 in three weeks.#ATPChallenger title No. 11 for the 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/UUJDgu7e7B

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 11, 2019

Earlier in the day, Ji Sung Nam and Min-Kyu Song took the doubles title. The unseeded duo of South Korea upset top favourites Mao-Xing Gong and Ze Zhang from China 6-3, 3-6, 14-12 in the final, which lasted one hour and 23 minutes.