STARNBERG, November 23, 2020
Francesco Cerundolo was crowned champion of the 16th edition of the Challenger Ciudad de Guayaquil COPA BANCO GUAYAQUIL presentado por CNT hosted by the Anexo Guayaquil Tenis Club in Ecuador. The 22-year-old from Argentina fought past No. 3 seed Andrej Martin of Slovakia 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in Sunday’s final of the $52,080 clay-court tournament.
Cerundolo capitalized on three of his five break-point chances to secure victory in one hour and 48 minutes.
Francisco Cerundolo is on fire! Champion in Guayaquil 🙌
The 🇦🇷 wins his second #ATPChallenger 🏆 since the restart, taking the title @challengye05.
Congrats @FranCerundolo! pic.twitter.com/G91Qy2ffcd
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 23, 2020
“It was a difficult match, but I think I made a very good tactical approach,” Cerundolo said. “He forced me to hit a couple of poor shots and I couldn’t hit with power, which is what I had been doing very well. I had to adapt to the variety of his shots, which made it a complicated match.”
By lifting his second ATP Challenger career title, following his maiden triumph at the inaugural Split Open in Croatia in early October, the Buenos Aires native took away from Ecuador $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
“I am happy to have won another final because it is always difficult to play a decisive match and to have won it against a great rival in a tough match makes me even happier,” said Cerundolo, who has reached a new career-high at World No. 162.
Martin was seeking his 13th Challenger title, his first since 2019 Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The 31-year-old from Bratislava earned $4,240 in prize money as well as 48 ATP Ranking points.
