ATP Challenger
Andrej Martin takes first Challenger title in nearly two years with San Luis Title, Aljaz Bedene wins in Barletta
Martin sealed his first title of 2017 with the win over Menendez Maceiras (Zimbio.com)
Andrej Martin ensured that lightning could not strike twice in three weeks as he denied Adrian Menendez Maceiras another Challenger title by defeating the Spaniard 7-5, 6-4 in Mexico. Menendez Maceiras had gone almost a decade between winning his first Challenger title in Pozoblanco and his second in Leon just two weeks ago.
Martin dominated the first set, but a game Menendez Macieras kept in touch until he was finally broken late in the set. Martin finally converted on his fifth break point for the lead.
Martin did drop serve in the second set, but stayed strong from there on in. The Slovak continued to have success against Menendez Macieras’ second serve and was rewarded with two breaks and the title.
It is Martin’s seventh Challenger title, and his first since August 2015.
Britain’s Aljaz Bedene continued his recent good form in Barletta. After briefly dropping out of the Top 100 after a poor start to the season, Bedene sealed his second Challenger title in consecutive weeks. Bedene took down top seed Gastao Elias 7-6, 6-3 for the title, and also dispatched Lukas Rosol and Marco Cecchinato. Bedene projects to move to around No.64 in the world when the rankings are changed to reflect his title run. Bedene is in hot form on the Challenger circuit this year and he adds Barletta to the titles he won in Irving (def. Kukushkin) and Verrazzano (def. Paire.)
Week’s talking points: Miomir Kecmanovic took strides to improve his rapidly growing reputation with a semi-final run that included wins over third seed Stefan Kozlov and seventh seed Marcelo Arevalo. His run was ended by a straight sets loss to Menendez Maceiras. The Serbian projects to move inside the Top 500 for the first time when next week’s rankings come out.
Second seed Gerald Melzer’s poor form across 2017 continued, as he only managed a quarter-final run. The Austrian won four Challenger titles last year, and reached two other finals last year. He would have hoped for a better run this week to take the pressure off of next week’s event in Sarasota, one of the two tournaments where he is defending runner-up points. Melzer’s ranking has dropped this season, and without a good run will struggle to make the main draw of Roland Garros directly.
The 2019 season starts on the Challenger Tour, with reformed rules and different schedule.
Three tournaments will be played from the 31st of December to the 6th of January on the hard courts of Noumea, Playford and Orlando. Federico Delbonis, Lorenzo Sonego and Illya Marchenko will be the top seeds.
The Internationaux Bnp Paribas in Noumea will feature a strong field, with veterans Tommy Robredo, Dustin Brown, Yuichi Sugita and Donald Young.
Challenger Noumea (New Caledonia, Hard), entry list:
80 Delbonis, Federico (ARG)
128 Halys, Quentin (FRA)
135 Rubin, Noah (USA)
146 Sugita, Yuichi (JPN)
159 Caruso, Salvatore (ITA)
164 Barrere, Gregoire (FRA)
166 Baldi, Filippo (ITA)
175 Milojevic, Nikola (SRB)
189 Rola, Blaz (SLO)
196 Robert, Stephane (FRA)
197 Janvier, Maxime (FRA)
198 De Schepper, Kenny (FRA)
202 Robredo, Tommy (ESP)
213 Coppejans, Kimmer (BEL)
OUT Horansky, Filip (SVK)
219 Lee, Duckhee (KOR)
223 Giustino, Lorenzo (ITA)
224 Galovic, Viktor (CRO)
231 Brown, Dustin (GER)
233 Clezar, Guilherme (BRA)
OUT Kwon, Soonwoo (KOR)
239 Sakharov, Gleb (FRA)
242 Harrison, Christian (USA)
249 Young, Donald (USA)
256 Ymer, Mikael (SWE)
259 Masur, Daniel (GER)
275 Chung, Yunseong (KOR)
276 Benchetrit, Elliot (FRA)
291 Marcora, Roberto (ITA)
297 Kwiatkowski, Thai-Son (USA)
303 Brkic, Tomislav (BIH)
OUT Setkic, Aldin (BIH)
310 Lamasine, Tristan (FRA)
OUT Altamirano, Collin (USA)
OUT Gomez-Herrera, Carlos (ESP)
327 Takahashi, Yusuke (JPN)
OUT Crepatte, Baptiste (FRA)
ITF25 Barrios Vera, Marcelo Tomas (CHI)
OUT Torebko, Peter (GER)
OUT Petrone, Alessandro (ITA)
OUT Hossam, Youssef (EGY)
ITF132 Sinclair, Colin (NMI)
ITF141 Wang, Tak Khunn (FRA)
ITF144 Simon, Tobias (GER)
WC Statham, Rubin (NZL)
WC Blancaneaux, Geoffrey (FRA)
WC Chazal, Maxime (FRA)
WC Nys, Hugo (FRA)
WC Nielsen, Frederik (DEN)
Qualifying:
OUT Ornago, Fabrizio (ITA)
OUT Tokuda, Renta (JPN)
OUT Niklas-Salminen, Patrik (FIN)
OUT Simon, Tobias (GER)
OUT Blancaneaux, Geoffrey (FRA)
ITF180 Niki, Takuto (JPN)
ITF209 Arconada, Jordi (USA)
ITF210 Giner, Marc (ESP)
(WC)
Alternates (ITF):
OUT Lock, Benjamin (ZIM) ITF101
OUT Hossam, Youssef (EGY) ITF 125
IN Sinclair, Colin (NMI) 132
OUT Celikbilek, Altug (TUR) ITF133
OUT Bortolotti, Marco (ITA) ITF134
IN Wang, Tak Khunn (FRA) ITF141
IN Simon, Tobias (GER) ITF144
OUT Jahn, Jeremy (GER) ITF147
OUT Avidzba, Alen (RUS) ITF150
Q Blancaneaux, Geoffrey (FRA) ITF157
OUT Hassan, Benjamin (GER) ITF160
OUT Piros, Zsombor (HUN) ITF179
Q Niki, Takuto (JPN) ITF180
Q Arconada, Jordi (USA) ITF209
Q Giner, Marc (ESP) ITF210
1. Pla Malfeito, Jaume (ESP) ITF211
OUT Huesler, Marc-Andrea (SUI) ITF236
OUT Escoffier, Antoine (FRA) ITF245
2. Korda, Sebastian (USA) ITF290
Alternates (ATP):
IN Smith, Roy (USA) 329
IN Olivo, Renzo (ARG) 332
OUT Wang, Tak-Khunn (FRA) 334
OUT Tokuda, Renta (JPN) 338
OUT Piros, Zsombor (HUN) 339
IN Grenier, Hugo (FRA) 342
OUT Harris, Andrew (AUS) 344
OUT Vukic, Aleksandar (AUS) 349
IN Escoffier, Antoine (FRA) 356
OUT Saville, Luke (AUS) 363
OUT Wu, Tung-Lin (TPE) 366
IN Huesler, Marc-Andrea (SUI) 372
1. Statham,Rubin (NZL) 374
2. Caruana, Liam (ITA) 381
Challenger Playford (Australia, Hard), entry list:
107 Sonego, Lorenzo (ITA)
112 Ruud, Casper (NOR)
127 Harris, Lloyd (RSA)
129 Menendez-Maceiras, Adrian (ESP)
133 Travaglia, Stefano (ITA)
145 Moutet, Corentin (FRA)
149 Ito, Tatsuma (JPN)
151 Moraing, Mats (GER)
152 Lestienne, Constant (FRA)
160 Dutra Silva, Rogerio (BRA)
OUT Giannessi, Alessandro (ITA)
162 Koepfer, Dominik (GER)
163 Bublik, Alexander (KAZ)
OUT Smyczek, Tim (USA)
168 Otte, Oscar (GER)
169 Vanni, Luca (ITA)
170 Laaksonen, Henri (SUI)
172 Krstin, Pedja (SRB)
178 Majchrzak, Kamil (POL)
181 Nedovyesov, Aleksandr (KAZ)
OUT Quiroz, Roberto (ECU)
185 Safwat, Mohamed (EGY)
188 Escobedo, Ernesto (USA)
192 Moriya, Hiroki (JPN)
193 Evans, Daniel (GBR)
195 Watanuki, Yosuke (JPN)
200 Napolitano, Stefano (ITA)
201 Pavlasek, Adam (CZE)
203 Paul, Tommy (USA)
204 Donati, Matteo (ITA)
205 De Greef, Arthur (BEL)
206 Troicki, Viktor (SRB)
208 Molleker, Rudolf (GER)
209 Zhang, Ze (CHN)
210 Kolar, Zdenek (CZE)
211 Gaio, Federico (ITA)
212 Gutierrez-Ferrol, Sergio (ESP)
ITF19 Zhurbin, Alexander (RUS)
OUT Bega, Alessandro (ITA)
ITF71 Doumbia, Sadio (FRA)
OUT Eriksson, Markus (SWE)
ITF108 Lopez-Perez, Enrique (ESP)
ITF130 Li, Zhe (CHN)
WC Santillan, Akira (AUS)
WC Saville, Luke (AUS)
WC Vukic, Aleksandar (AUS)
WC Hijikata, Rinky (AUS)
WC Purcell, Max (AUS)
Qualifying:
OUT Ornago, Fabrizio (ITA)
OUT Banes, Maverick (AUS)
OUT Lock, Benjamin (ZIM)ITF134 Bortolotti, Marco (ITA)
ITF155 Tseng, Chun Hsin (TPE)
ITF210 Giner, Marc (ESP)
(WC)
Alternates (ITF):
IN Lopez-Perez, Enrique (ESP) ITF108
IN Li, Zhe (CHN) ITF130
OUT Sinclair, Colin (NMI) ITF 132
OUT Celikbilek, Altug (TUR) ITF133
Q Bortolotti, Marco (ITA) ITF134
OUT Wang, Tak Khunn (FRA) ITF141
OUT Simon, Tobias (GER) ITF144
OUT Jahn, Jeremy (GER) ITF147
OUT Avidzba, Alen (RUS) ITF150
OUT Ilkel, Cem (TUR) ITF151
Q Tseng, Chun Hsin (TPE) ITF155
OUT Blancaneaux, Geoffrey (FRA) ITF157
Q Giner, Marc (ESP) ITF210
1. Pla Malfeito, Jaume (ESP) ITF211
2. Look, Michael (AUS) ITF229
3. Saville, Luke (AUS) ITF230
4. Fancutt, Thomas (AUS) ITF232
5. Escoffier, Antoine (FRA) ITF245
Alternates (ATP):
IN Kamke, Tobias (GER) 214
IN Soeda, Go (JPN) 215
IN Hemery, Calvin (FRA) 217
OUT Lopez-Perez, Enrique (ESP) 220
1. Moroni, Gian Marco (ITA) 227
2. Griekspoor, Tallon (NED) 232
3. Davidovich Fokina, Alejandro (ESP) 238
4. Li, Zhe (CHN) 278
Challenger Orlando (USA, Hard), entry list:
198 Marchenko, Illya (UKR)
199 King, Darian (BAR)
OUT Galan, Daniel Elahi (COL)
229 Krueger, Mitchell (USA)
243 De Bakker, Thiemo (NED)
244 Peliwo, Filip (CAN)
248 Gombos, Norbert (SVK)
251 Ignatik, Uladzimir (BLR)
252 Cid Subervi, Roberto (DOM)
255 Aragone, JC (USA)
258 Novikov, Dennis (USA)
262 Bonzi, Benjamin (FRA)
263 King, Kevin (USA)
264 Elias, Gastao (POR)
265 Serdarusic, Nino (CRO)
266 Bourgue, Mathias (FRA)
267 Zapata Miralles, Bernabe (ESP)
270 Tatlot, Johan (FRA)
271 Mager, Gianluca (ITA)
273 Ojeda Lara, Ricardo (ESP)
274 Broady, Liam (GBR)
280 Coria, Federico (ARG)
282 Uchida, Kaichi (JPN)
283 Oliveira, Goncalo (POR)
284 Taberner, Carlos (ESP)
285 Couacaud, Enzo (FRA)
286 Miedler, Lucas (AUT)
287 King, Evan (USA)
288 Grigelis, Laurynas (LTU)
OUT Viola, Matteo (ITA)
293 Choinski, Jan (GER)
294 Safranek, Vaclav (CZE)
295 Griekspoor, Scott (NED)
300 Pavic, Ante (CRO)
301 Collarini, Andrea (ARG)
302 Sarkissian, Alexander (USA)
OUT Przysiezny, Michal (POL)
ITF11 Reboul, Fabien (FRA)
ITF14 Souza, Joao (BRA)
ITF22 Jomby, Tom (FRA)
ITF24 Sels, Jelle (NED)
(WC)
(WC)
(WC)
(WC)
(WC)
Qualifying:
ITF28 Ortega-Olmedo, Roberto (ESP)
ITF31 Menezes, Joao (BRA
ITF38 Brouwer, Gijs (NED)
(WC)
Alternates (ITF):
OUT Boluda-Purkiss, Carlos (ESP) ITF42
1. Mertens, Yannick (BEL) ITF51
2. Gomez, Emilio (ECU) ITF54
3. Muller, Alexandre (FRA) ITF75
OUT Rinderkneck, Arthur (FRA) ITF79
4. Dougaz, Aziz (TUN) ITF112
5. Hoyt, Evan (GBR) ITF114
Alternates (ATP):
IN Giron, Marcos (USA) 309
IN Gonzalez, Alejandro (COL) 313
IN Blanch, Ulises (USA) 314
1. Kozlov, Stefan (USA) 317
2. Ortega-Olmedo, Roberto (ESP) 320
3. Song, Evan (USA) 322
4. Fanselow, Sebastian (GER) 324
OUT Smith, Roy (USA) 329
5. Torpegaard, Mikael (DEN) 331
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