ZADAR, March 28, 2021
For the first time, the ATP Challenger Tour has come to Zadar, the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serves as the seat of Zadar County and of the wider northern Dalmatian region. The €44,820 clay-court tournament is the first of a record four Challengers in Croatia this season, along with two events confirmed for Split in April and another scheduled for Zagreb in May.
Milojevic prevails
Nikola Milojevic is the champion of the inaugural Zadar Open held at the recently built Falkensteiner Resort Punta Skala, home to seven clay courts and only a few steps away from the Iadera Hotel. The No. 3 seed from Serbia rallied past Dimitar Kuzmanov of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) in Sunday’s final on a sunny afternoon.
Milojevic battled through the top half of the draw, beating Tung-Liln Wu of Chinese Taipei, Russian lucky loser Ivan Nedelko, Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic and Lukas Klein of Slovakia en-route to the championship match. The 25-year-old Belgrade native came back from a break down in the final set, won two points less than his rival in the final but prevailed after three hours and six minutes.
Champion at the inaugural Zadar Open: Nikola Milojevic 💪
The 🇷🇸 rallies from a break down in the deciding set to outlast Kuzmanov and claim his third #ATPChallenger title. pic.twitter.com/em7usiylF9
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 28, 2021
‘Zadar Mars’ trophy for the champion
In addition to €6,190 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points, Milojevic received a truly unique prize: the ‘Zadar Mars’ trophy, made of stone with a tennis ball on top. The origin of the stone is from Popovic near Benkovac and was handcrafted by local artisan Marinko Katuša.
The World No. 148 has captured his third Challenger career title, his first since Liberec 2019. Milojevic is projected to reach a new career-high of World No. 131 when the new ATP Rankings will be released.
One of the more unique trophies on tour. 🏆
Nikola Milojevic lifts ‘Zadar Mars’. Carved entirely from natural Croatian limestone and handcrafted by local artisan Marinko Katuša. pic.twitter.com/BxkQukZW3n
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 28, 2021
Kavcic/Rola take doubles title
On Saturday, Slovenian veterans Blaz Kavcic and Blaz Rola clinched their first team title. The unseeded tandem rallied from a set down to overcome the all-Slovakian combination of Lukas Klein and Alex Molcan, 2-6, 6-2, 10-3 in the doubles final. The encounter lasted one hour and three minutes.
Kavcic has lifted his third ATP Challenger doubles trophy, his first since Sacramento in the United States in 2015. Rola has captured his seventh career doubles title. The duo split €2,670 in prize money and collected 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an
