Stefano Travaglia made it an excellent week for Italians on the Challenger circuit, as he joined compatriot Thomas Fabbiano in taking a title. Travaglia defeated yet another Italian, the seeded Marco Cecchinato, in the final 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Travaglia’s run to his first Challenger singles title included wins over Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, Roberto Carballes Baena, and Adam Pavlasek, before defeating Cecchinato in the final.
Travaglia will move into a new career-high position of somewhere above No.190 in the ATP Rankings.
Cecchinato’s run to the final did not see him have to face any seeded players, as a number of shock results combined to hand him an easier draw on paper. Top seed Norbert Gombos was defeated by Marco Trungelliti, and Lukas Rosol was shocked by Hungarian Attila Balazs, whose run was only ended by Cecchinato in a close three-set semi final.
Both Cecchinato and Travaglia will feature in next week’s Rome Challenger. Cecchinato will be up against second seed Nicolas Kicker in the first round. Travaglia’s ranking was not high enough to earn him direct entry, but the Rome organisers have deemed him worthy of a special exemption in recognition of his excellent play this week. He will start against fourth seed Gastao Elias.
