VILLENA/STARNBERG, October 16, 2021
Two unseeded Frenchmen will go head-to-head in Sunday’s singles final of the Alicante Ferrero Challenger hosted by the JC Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy in Villena, Alicante in Spain. Hugo Grenier knocked off No. 3 seed Oscar Otte from Germany in Saturday’s semi-finals 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4.
The 25-year-old from Mombrison, who captured his sixth title on the ITF World Tennis Tour in Bakio, Spain in early July and is sitting at a career-high World No. 203, struck 10 aces and won 78 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and one minute.
Grenier will face Constant Lestienne for the title. The World No. 258 of Amiens defeated No. 8 seed Joao Sousa from Portugal 6-4, 7-6(5). Lestienne capitalized on all of his four break-point chances to secure victory in one hour and 57 minutes.
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Lestienne is seeking his third career title on the ATP Challenger Tour, his first since the 2018 Slovenia Open in Portoroz. Grenier, who won the only previous meeting between the two in the stage of the final four at the Saint-Tropez Open Challenger last month, could lift his maiden Challenger trophy.
Molchanov/Reid earn doubles trophies
In other action, Denys Molchanov from the Ukraine and Spaniard David Vega Hernandez clinched the doubles title. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 2 favourites Romain Arneodo of Monaco and Matt Reid from Australia 6-4, 6-2. The encounter lasted 57 minutes.
By winning their first team title, Molchanov and Vega Hernandez split €2,670 in prize money and earned 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
