Dominant Halys Streaks To Second Title Of Season

  • Posted: Apr 23, 2018

Dominant Halys Streaks To Second Title Of Season

Apr232018

Revisit the week that was on the ATP Challenger Tour, as we applaud the achievements of those on the rise and look ahead to who’s in action in the week to come

A LOOK BACK
Ganjiang New Area International Challenger (Nanchang, China): How good was Quentin Halys in Nanchang? The third-seeded Frenchman averaged less than six games lost per match, eventually blasting to the title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over countryman Calvin Hemery on Sunday.

At the age of 21, Halys is one of France’s brightest young stars, along with Hemery and 19-year-old Corentin Moutet. Up to No. 110 in the ATP Rankings, his victory on the clay of Nanchang was his second Challenger crown this year. Also the champion on the indoor hard courts of Quimper, Halys now owns an impressive 13-4 record on the circuit in 2018.

Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open (Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.): What a moment for Hugo Dellien. What a moment for Bolivian tennis! The Trinidad, Bolivia, native became just the second player from his country to lift a trophy – and the first since 1983 – on the ATP Challenger Tour. Dellien triumphed on the green clay of Sarasota, rallying past Facundo Bagnis 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday’s title match.

Dellien came one point from exiting the tournament in the quarter-finals, having saved a match point against Stefan Kozlov on Friday. Moreover, the maiden moment for the 24-year-old comes four years after reaching his first final in Montevideo 2014. He rises 59 spots in the ATP Rankings to a career-high No. 172.

Jalisco Open presentado por Aeromexico-Delta (Guadalajara, Mexico): Few players on the ATP Challenger Tour are hotter than El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo. The 27-year-old has soared nearly 100 spots in the past month to a career-high No. 142, having captured a pair of titles on Mexican soil in San Luis Potosi and Guadalajara. 

Arevalo would survive a two-hour marathon against Christopher Eubanks on Sunday at the Jalisco Open, prevailing in a deciding tie-break 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4). El Salvador’s finest is 11-4 this year on the Challenger circuit. He previously defeated Roberto Cid Subervi for the crown in San Luis Potosi earlier this month.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Eubanks is up to a career-high No. 246 after reaching his first Challenger final. The former Georgia Tech University standout is in his first full season on tour after turning pro in October.

Tunis Open (Tunis, Tunisia): From one player clinching his second title of the season to another, we travel 6,500 miles east to Tunis where Guido Andreozzi emerged on the African clay. After a four-year hiatus, the ATP Challenger Tour returned to the Tunisian capital, as the Argentine notched his sixth title overall. 

Andreozzi took his second Challenger crown of the year (Punta del Este, Uruguay) when qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver retired due to illness at 6-2, 3-0 in Sunday’s final. He is one of the top performers on the circuit this year, posting an 18-5 record. In addition, Andreozzi is the fourth different Argentine winner in three weeks, following victories for Carlos Berlocq, Juan Ignacio Londero and Marco Trungelliti.

A LOOK AHEAD
Four more tournaments are on the calendar this week. Halys looks to go back-to-back on Chinese soil in Anning and is joined by top seed Vasek Pospisil, 2016 champion Jordan Thompson and 2014 winner Alex Bolt. In Tallahassee, the U.S. swing continues, where Denis Kudla leads the pack, with #NextGenATP stars Michael Mmoh, Miomir Kecmanovic, Marc Polmans and Jay Clarke.

The second edition of the €43,000 event in Francavilla al Mare, Italy, welcomes teens Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud, while Arevalo eyes a third title in Mexico at the 16th edition of the Torneo Internacional Challenger Leon.

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