MEERBUSCH, April 18, 2021 (by Dietmar Kaspar)

Alexander Erler from Austria took the title of the Just Pools Kirschbaum International. The 16th edition of the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event was hosted by the TeReMeer Sports and Tennis Resort in Meerbusch, situated in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Twenty-three-year-old Erler battled through the top half of the draw, beating last German standing Elmar Ejupovic in the stage of the last four by the score of 6-3, 6-4.

French teenager Arthur Cazaux, who entered the tournament by junior exempt, advanced to the final by defeating David Pichler from Austria 6-4, 6-4.

Innsbruck-born Erler won six points more in a very close championship match to secure a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory in two hours and 27 minutes. In addition to his 18 doubles titles, he lifted his sixth singles trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

“There were only small things which decided the final today, but I will analyze the match directly with my coach,” said runner-up Cazaux, who reached the final of the Australian Open Junior Championships 2020 and was ranked World No. 4 in ITF Juniors.

Erler, who is based at the ATC-Academy in Traiskirchen near Vienna, earned 20 ATP Ranking points and will return to the Top 400 when the new ATP Rankings will be released. During the trophy-ceremony, he said: “The title win was very important for me because now I can enter some main draws of upcoming ATP Challenger events.”

On Saturday, No. 3 seeded Czech duo Jiri Lehecka and Michael Vrbensky clinched the doubles trophy with a 6-3, 6-3 win in the title match against the tournament’s top favourites Viktor Durasovic from Norway and Markus Eriksson from Sweden.