Teenager Omar Jasika secured his first-ever Challenger title last night, defeating fellow Australian Blake Mott 62 62 in Burnie, Australia.
Jasika had made his first Challenger final in Happy Valley, only to be defeated by Peter Gojowcyzk in straight sets on that occasion. He was not to be denied by Mott though, as Jasika sealed the win in an hour.
Jasika faced no break points and was perfect on his opportunities, breaking Mott four times from four chances.
Jasika will move up around one hundred places in the rankings. moving into the Top 300.
Tournament summary: Good weeks for Jasika and Mott. The average age of the players in the semi-finals was under twenty years old, with Akira Santillan and Jasika just nineteen.
Dayne Kelly’s shock of top seed Go Soeda was the shock of the tournament. Jason Jung’s early defeat to Luke Saville and Andrew Whittington’s loss to Blaz Rola meant the top three seeds all lost in the first round.
Sixth seed Noah Rubin will consider a second round loss to Maverick Banes as a missed opportunity. Rubin had reached the second round of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. His loss to Banes in a section of the draw that had opened up was disappointing for the American. Alexander Bublik, who shocked Lucas Pouille in the Australian Open, could also consider his second round defeat to Christopher O’ Connell a bad loss.
Player of the tournament: Omar Jasika