Brandon Nakashima claimed his maiden ATP Challenger title in Orlando at the USTA National Campus with a 6-3 6-4 win over Prajnesh Gunneswaran from India. The 19-year US player did not drop a set at this tournament.
The California native saved all eight break points he faced. The US teenager becomes the youngest US champion since Frances Tiafoe in 2017. It’s the sixth time that a teenager has won a Challenger title in 2020 joining the list that includes Tomas Machac, Lorenzo Musetti and three-time champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Brandon’s mother grew up in Vietnam and moved to California when he was 5 years old. He began playing tennis at the age of 3 with his granfather. He erolled early at University of Virginia as 17-year-old and named 2019 ACC Freshman of the Year before turning pro.
Following the resumption of the ATP Tour Nakashima lost to Hungary Marton Fucsovics in the first qualifying round at the Western and Southern Open in New York. The US teenager beat Jiri Vesely and Cameron Norrie in ATP Tour debut to reach the quarter final in Delray Beach as a 18-year-old wild-card. He became the first Delray Beach quarter finalist since Kei Nishikori won this tournament in 2008.
Nakashima has improved his career-high to world number 136 in the ATP Ranking and is the second best US Next Gen player after world number 117 Sebastian Korda, who won his maiden ATP Challenger title in Eckental (Germany).
“It means a lot to win the first Challenger title. Playing all these Challengers the last couple years was all leading up to this moment, to win my first title. I could not be happier right now”, said Nakashima to the ATP Tour website. “Ever since I started playing, I have always wanted to play tennis at the highest level and eventually become number 1 in the world. I think this is just a great stepping stone in that direction. It shows that all my hard work throughout the past couple of years is paying off. I am happy to get the first Challenger under my belt and this will give me a lot of confidence for any future ATP Tour tournaments in the future”, said Nakashima.
