CHERBOURG, February 17, 2020
Roman Safiullin has captured his maiden title on the ATP Challenger Tour by winning the 27th edition of the Challenger Cherbourg-La Manche. The 21-year-old from Russia beat No. 2 seed Roberto Marcora of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday’s singles final at the Complexe Sportif Chantereyne in Cherbourg en Cotentin.
Safiullin advanced to the championship match of the €46,600 hard-court event with a first-round win over Germany’s Dustin Brown followed by four victories against players from France. The Moscow native beat No. 15 seed Mathias Bourgue, No. 3 seed Maxime Janvier, No. 5 seed Quentin Halys and the tournament’s No. 1 Antoine Hoang.
Safiullin was in control of the final, didn’t face a break point and converted three of his own five break-point opportunities to prevail after one hour and three minutes.
It’s a first #ATPChallenger crown for Roman Safiullin!
The 22-year-old wins six matches in six days to take the title at @ChallengerChbg. Youngest 🇷🇺 champion on tour since @DaniilMedwed in 2016. pic.twitter.com/vVz79sMSKj
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) February 16, 2020
Following 19 title wins on the ITF World Tennis Tour, the World No. 231 claimed his first Challenger trophy. Safiullin earned in France €6,190 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
Later in the afternoon, Safiullin was back on Centre Court teaming up with fellow Russian Pavel Kotov in the doubles final. The duo fought past French wild card entries Dan Added and Albano Olivetti 7-6(6), 5-7, 12-10. The encounter lasted one hour and 34 minutes.
