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Savannah Ch F: Alexander Ritschard def. Andres Andrade [Q] 6-2, 6-4 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

Right from the start, A. Ritschard appeared more aggressive as he already produced a forehand winner to create one of his earliest set points. Even if A. Andrade tried his best in constructing his points to keep up with the rhythm, A. Ritschard came up with various ways to disrupt A. Andrade's pace as evident in how he broke for the first set, for example, as well as outhitting his baseline game. This way, A. Ritschard successfully came up with 14 break points, converting 4 of them while A. Andrade had a 20% conversion rate out of his 5 break points, which came as the former should have served for the match, but ended up breaking instead due to the latter's frequent errors under pressure.

Furthermore, A. Ritschard also had an outstanding service game throughout the match. Even though both players were not able to sfore an ace, the Swiss still managed to win 21% more of his first serve points than A. Andrade, which helped him navigating some problems along the way. However, even though the former double-faulted thrice more than A. Andrade, the Ecuadorian qualifier still had more vulnerable second serves due to his prevalent unforced errors to follow them up, mostly as he had troubles maintaining his range, thus he won 8% fewer points than A. Ritschard as the match progressed.

This marked A. Ritschard's first Challenger title in 2 years since the Hamburg Challenger 2022, as well as his first title on the green clay. This propelled his rank back to 169 live, as A. Andrade entered the Top 400 for the first time by landing at 373 thanks to his runner-up finish. As the upcoming week's Challenger events in Europe will be all 175s, A. Ritschard's next tournament will be the Oeiras 4 Challenger qualification rounds in the next 2 weeks, while A. Andrade will continue playing in ITF M25 Pensacola by then. Massive.

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

Initially, after A. Ritschard held his serves to 1-0, A. Andrade tried to rediscover his range as the former applauded the latter's backhand winner to set his one-point lead, but it was insufficient once his forehand error to A. Ritschard's preceding shot led him to face a break point before it was converted due to a backhand error, which passed the let cord but turned out to be out to 2-0. Subsequently, even though A. Andrade fired a forehand winner and got A. Ritschard run over in another occasion to set himself one point ahead, but the Swiss managed to hold his serves to 3-0.

Within the next few games, the Ecuadorian qualifier fended off 5 break points, one of those was generated by A. Ritschard's backhand winner and foiled by an unreal serve+1, before holding his serves to 4-2. A. Ritschard then held to 5-2 and earned an opportunity to serve for the match two games later, but a double fault created a loophole for A. Andrade to secure his break point through a functional drop shot before breaking to 5-4 due to A. Ritschard's forehand error. However, as A. Andrade went back on serve, his follow-ups were insufficient that he ended up facing a break point before a final lob that was fired too long resulted in A. Ritschard breaking for the match 6-4, securing his first Challenger title in 2 years as a consequence.

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📸 ATP official website

Meanwhile, in Savannah...

Simultaneously, the Savannah Challenger finals featured Alexander Ritschard, who earlier yesterday (local time) defeated Dmitry Popko 6-4, 7-6(4) to secure his first Challenger final since the Lyon Challenger 2023, and qualifier Andres Andrade, who reached his maiden Challenger final after defeating Maxime Janvier 7-5, 6-0 thanks to his solid play. This turned out to be the match that favored strong point construction, with their execution and balance often becoming the key to stand out in this match.

After three consecutive holds, A. Ritschard fired a fiery forehand winner to secure his earlier break point, but A. Andrade managed to fumble them through his point construction, one of which through a post-drop shot backhand passing shot for the second one. It might have taken a while for A. Andrade to finally hold his service games after passing his forehand like wheels to 2-2.

A. Ritschard then continued with a service game hold to 3-2 before breaking A. Andrade's serve thanks to his backhand down-the-line winner that topped off his groundstrokes as the latter missed his forehands in most parts of the game. Consolidating his position by holding to 5-2, the Swiss continued as another unforced error from the Ecuadorian qualifier secured his set point before its eventual conversion came thanks to his working backhand lob pass to top off all his answers, making A. Andrade scrambling to continue the point while the space was completely wide open to secure his dominant first set to 6-2.

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Concepcion Ch F: Gonzalo Bueno [6] def. Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-4, 6-0 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

The first half of the first set might have been a ride, but G. Bueno's aggression out-paced Ficovich as soon as he got his range more consistently. Not only he made the latter look underpowered in several moments, he also made the Argentinean run out of options as he struck the ball slightly cleaner. This way, even though both players had an equal break point conversion rate at 67%, G. Bueno managed to produce more break points at 9 thanks to his dominant second set performance.

After steadying up at the end of the first set, G. Bueno's service game also became more stable for the rest of the match. Even if Ficovich scored 4 aces as G. Bueno was unable to, the accuracy mattered as the sixth seed won 7% more points from his first serves. On the other hand, G. Bueno had an exceptional second-serve winning percentage at 66%, even 3% more than his first serves, leaving Ficovich's second serves more vulnerable at 31%, 35% lower than G. Bueno, where his rushed follow-ups did not help.

This marked G. Bueno's second year-to-date Challenger title since the Buenos Aires (Argentino) 1 Challenger, which propelled his rank to 288 by the end of the match after another rollercoaster part of the season. In addition, he became the second Peruvian to be able to win multiple Challenger titles in a year, joining Juan Pablo Varillas, after over 15 years! For G. Bueno, his next tournament will be the Porto Alegre Challenger, where a possible popcorn match between both Latin American youngsters awaits in seventh seed Alvaro Guillen Meza. What a way forward for the Peruvian, and more generally, the next generation of Latin American tennis!

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

As G. Bueno steadied his position after serving for the first set, he had not looked back since as he completely dominated the flow of the second set by out-pacing (followed by overpowering) Ficovich to some extent. In this regard, the Peruvian sixth seed started his second set with an early break, where a volley reach in response to Ficovich's drop shot generated his break point before a double fault converted it (1-0).

This was followed by a service game hold to 2-0, and G. Bueno seemed not to look back as he passed Ficovich numerous times while the latter was at the net, which fumbled the latter's game point before ultimately breaking to 3-0. The Peruvian sixth seed then held his serves to 4-0, and constructed another point where he also had all the answers ranging from a lob, smash, until the final forehand winner that secured his one-point lead, overwhelming Ficovich to triple the break 5-0. By then, G. Bueno earned his opportunity to serve for the second-set bagel, which he did to secure his second Challenger-level title.

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📸 ATP official website

One of the matches that capped off this week's Challenger finals was in the Concepcion Challenger, which featured sixth seed Gonzalo Bueno, who survived the classic quarterfinals by stunning first seed Genaro Alberto Olivieri 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) within 2 hours and 46 minutes before defeating Jose Pereira 6-4, 6-4, and second seed Juan Pablo Ficovich, who defeated Juan Carlos Prado Angelo 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) within 2 hours and 23 minutes prior to defeating Stefanos Sakellaridis 6-2, 7-5 in the subsequent round. While this match might have delivered in one sense or another, it appeared that the more aggressive and consistent player stood out at the end of the match.

The match started in a topsy-turvy manner as both players tried to get the hang out of their respective range. Ficovich initially had a solid start as he fired a drop shot to set up his initial break point before breaking to 2-0 due to G. Bueno's backhand error. The same shot also helped him minimizing the gap, but it was insufficient as G. Bueno stayed aggressive to break back 2-1, equalizing the play as he held his serves to 2-2.

Several consecutive games later, G. Bueno tried to respond to Ficovich's drop shot with a functional volley for an equalizer before the latter's forehand error in response to G. Bueno's preceding backhand secured the break to 4-3 only to be broken back to 4-4, which ultimately challenged their consistency. The Peruvian sixth seed then fired a crucial drop shot to set himself a point ahead before generating his break point thanks to his forehand to Ficovich's forehand error, immediately converting it to 5-4 to have a shot in serving for the first set. Without any furher hesitation, G. Bueno held to 0 and took the first set 6-4, setting himself one set ahead in this match.

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Rome (Italy) Ch F: Alejandro Moro Canas [Alt] def. Vilius Gaubas 7-5, 6-3 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

Even though the start of the match might have seemed to be a classic Gaubas match with him possibly digging deep, Moro Canas found his range in time thanks to his aggression, where he extended some or most rallies until he stood firm as Gaubas wore down toward the end of the match. This was marked by the prevalence of Gaubas' unforced errors as Moro Canas nailed the most crucial points as he stood firm in the second set. As such, even though both players had 10 break points, Moro Canas converted 50% of them thanks to his physicality that helped carrying his second set performance.

Moreover, Moro Canas had a more solid service game percentage. Serving 4 more aces than Gaubas' 1, Moro Canas won 2% more of his first serve points than Gaubas, which helped him navigate several troubles along the way. Interestingly, the Spanish alternate had an exceptional second serve winning percentage at 61%, even 2% more than his first serves, 22% more than Gaubas, whose second serves became more vulnerable as the match progressed.

This marked Moro Canas' maiden Challenger title to affirm his form, propelling his rank to a career-high of 169 live after winning the title. On the other hand, Gaubas became the number 1 Lithuanian as he entered the Top 300 for the first time, landing at 283 thanks to his runner-up run. Since next week's European Challengers are the 175s, their next Challenger will be in the next two weeks, where Moro Canas will play in Prague 2 and Gaubas became one of the many alternates in the Mauthausen Challenger. Their only ways are up at this rate.

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

Moro Canas became firmer starting the second set, as he held his serves to 1-0 before firing a drop shot to set his 2-point lead before breaking early to 2-0 due to a forehand error from Gaubas. Even if the latter had his forehand down-the-line winner to set his lead before having his equal chances, but Moro Canas managed to hold his serves to 3-0.

By then, things became more physical, which became more evident as Gaubas received a medical timeout toward the end of the match, right at the changeover before the penultimate game. The Spanish alternate stayed consistent until the end of the match, where he successfully served it out (and held to 0) to secure the championship, taking the second set 6-3 to finally win his maiden Challenger title.

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📸 ATP official website

The next Challenger-level finals for the day came from the Rome (Italy) Challenger, as both finalists sought for their maiden Challenger-level title. Alternate Alejandro Moro Canas, who stunned first seed Zsombor Piros 6-4, 6-3 in the first round and went on defeating defending runner-up and fifth seed Jesper de Jong 7-6(1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals and Stefano Travaglia 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 in the semifinals after undergoing a scenic route, faced another talented youngster in Vilius Gaubas, who remarkably edged out second seed Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and eighth seed Hugo Dellien 6-4, 7-5 after being one break down in each set to close yesterday's semifinals. As this match tested their return depth and aggression to some extent, it all came down to physicality as one got firmer toward the end of the match.

The match started in the most topsy-turvy way possible (in a similar manner to Gaubas' semifinal match) as Moro Canas initially had a solid start through his backhand pass to set up one of his earlier leads before breaking early to 2-0, where Gaubas ended up breaking back (2-1) thanks to his backhand pass, which turned out was the key of the last few points to secure the said break. However, the moment did not last long as Moro Canas broke back again (3-1) due to Gaubas' forehand error, which became prevalent in the said game.

Subsequently, the Spaniard held his service game (4-1) and Gaubas followed suit before the latter started digging deep again as his down-the-line finishes kicked off the next game before breaking back to 4-3, levelling the play afterward with a service game hold to 4-4. Gaubas became slightly more aggressive since then, firing a forehand down-the-line winner to secure a crucial equalizer before foiling Moro Canas' earlier game points almost similarly, somehow forced another deuce through a powerful forehand winner several points prior to the break of serve thanks to his backhand pass to conclude a rally (5-4). By then, Gaubas earned his chance to serve for the first set, where he fumbled due to his forehand errors (5-5).

Moro Canas then held his serves to 6-5, and asked the necessary questions regarding the possibility of a tie-break. He fired a backhand down-the-line winner to start the twelfth game, where his redirections ended up resulting in Gaubas' frequent errors, generating the former's set points as a result. Even though the unseeded Lithuanian foiled one of the said set points through a forehand pass, it was insufficient as Moro Canas turned out to break for the set (7-5) due to the former's forehad mishit, which was fired too long, putting himself one set away, technically, from the title.

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Ostrava Ch F: Damir Dzumhur [1] def. Henri Squire 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

H. Squire had his moments to optimize his possible chances, but Dzumhur dug deep to pick up where he left off with his aggression, absorbed some more pace as the former got tighter to serve it out, and turned the tables from 1-5 to 7-5 in the third set. Thanks to his point construction, some of which involved exceptional defending while maintaining his offensives steadily, he managed to create overwhelming 15 break points, 10 more than H. Squire, who tried to maximize his chances through a 80% break point conversion rate, but it was insufficient for him to grab the title due to the said nerves.

On the other hand, both players seemed to have their own service game strengths. H. Squire somehow was able to fire 4 more aces than Dzumhur, which resulted in the former having the slight edge on his first serves by winning 2% more of his first serve points. However, due to the German's 6 double faults (thrice more than Dzumhur), it put his second serves to a more vulnerable position as it faded 13% below the first seed, making it prone to attack, especially in the later portions of the third set.

This marked Dzumhur's second Challenger title of the year, both won this month, after the Barletta Challenger earlier this month (d. Harold Mayot), which put himself 26 lines away to a Top 100 return by the end of the match. On the other hand, H. Squire will be 7 lines away from the Top 200 thanks to this runner-up run, and at the moment, Dzumhur is one of the alternates in the Cagliari Challenger (175). Could be one of the possible comebacks in the making.

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

The third set became topsy-turvy as things became more complicated for both players. H. Squire had an originally dominant start, but Dzumhur started to pick up where he left off as soon as the former started to get tight during some critical moments to possibly close this match. Here was how everything unfolded.

Dzumhur had an erratic start to the third set as H. Squire struck his baseline game, whose forehand errors also contributed to the latter's early break to 2-0, followed by a swift consolidation to 3-0. After the first seed put his name on the board with a service game hold to 3-1, H. Squire's forehand pass to Dzumhur's failed volley set up his solid return game before generating his break point through another pass, doubling his break (5-1) for his earlier opportunity to serve for the match.

However, as H. Squire tightened up, Dzumhur tried to readjust his pace and successfully regained his range. Having a forehand down-the-line winner to set up an equalizer in the second point, Dzumhur then broke to 0 to 5-2 before holding his serves to 5-3, which gave the German another chance to serve for the match. Nonetheless, things happened again as a successful drop shot won him the crucial point before H. Squire's forehand errors caused the break to 5-4. Dzumhur proceeded by consolidating his service game to 5-5.

Things might have gone downhill here as Dzumhur upped his aggression. H. Squire might have responded to the previous error with a working backhand lob, but it was not the case as a set of forehand errors caused the former to break again 6-5. As a result, Dzumhur earned his chance to serve for the match, which he ultimately did to take the third set 7-5, completing the wild comeback to win his second Challenger title of the year.

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📸 ATP official website

The second set turned out to be a rollercoaster as both players tried to nail their point construction, and H. Squire visibly upped his aggression throughout the match. Dzumhur initially had fair chances to start the set, having several break points, one of those produced through a smash, before the German redirected further to force some errors and saved them to hold 1-0. It took two more straight holds before H. Squire had to take a medical timeout, but it took a while for him to have several things sorted.

Fast-forward to the sixth game, H. Squire started to press Dzumhur's baseline game further as he produced a forehand down-the-line finish to Dzumhur's backhand error to create his break point only to be saved by the latter's backhand volley get moments after his forehand winner before finally holding his serves to 3-3. It took four straight games before the damage started to be imminent from the German, starting from some forehand passes for some important equalizers that signified his willingness to move forward (and dig even deeper), and somehow managed to fumble Dzumhur's game point before producing a set point through a backhand down-the-line winner. Ultimately, H. Squire broke for the set 6-4 due to Dzumhur's +1 forehand error, thus he forced the deciding set to determine the championship.

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📸 ATP official website

This week's Challenger finals then continued in Ostrava Challenger as first seed Damir Dzumhur, who advanced to the finals due to Manuel Guinard's walkover (as a result of his right calf injury), faced Henri Squire, who previously defeated Timofey Skatov 6-3, 6-4 in yesterday's semifinal match. This match turned out to be a topsy-turvy one that tested their point construction and how they handled the pressure points as the match progressed.

Dzumhur started the first game with a tidy point construction, firing a volley winner right two points into the match to open the way before a complete package type of point, which featured his drop shot, volley, until his backhand down-the-line finish, generated his second break point before H. Squire mishit his forehand for the early break (1-0). However, this became a chaotic start as soon as H. Squire commenced the next game with a backhand down-the-line winner, scoring another crucial backhand winner to secure his break point prior to Dzumhur misfiring his forehand too long for the German's break-back to 1-1. The match then proceeded with 2 consecutive holds.

Subsequently, Dzumhur started to get the hang of the rhythm as H. Squire also misfired his forehand too long for the former's break point, which was followed by his failed slice to convert it to 3-2, followed by a service game hold to 4-2. Somehow, the next game became unideal for H. Squire as a double-fault midway (or some of them) caused Dzumhur's lead before the first seed converted it thanks to his pass to H. Squire's backhand volley error, which generated the said break point before it was converted due to another double fault (5-2). As a result, Dzumhur earned an opportunity to serve for the first set, which he flawlessly did as he held to 0 to take the first set 6-2, asserting his dominant performance to start the match.

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Shenzhen (Luohu) Ch F: Lloyd Harris [4] def. James Duckworth [1] 6-3, 6-3 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

L. Harris' strong, almost flawless serving was confirmed statistically as he fired 14 aced than J. Duckworth's 2 in a 7:1 ratio, winning 89% of his first serve points to get himself out of even possible troubles and stay dominant. However, this also pressed J. Duckworth's second serves until he double-faulted 4 times than L. Harris' 1, fading his second serve winning percentage 28% behind L. Harris at 48%, thus signifying L. Harris' more consistent serving performance.

Other than the fourth seed's aforementioned outstanding service games, L. Harris' groundstrokes (from the baseline) also left J. Duckworth with fewer options to execute his shots even if the latter notably volleyed numerous times. Getting the latter outhit from the baseline from either forehand/backhand side thanks to L. Harris' ability to keep the point construction concise right to the lines, the South African fourth seed managed to create 9 break points, converting 33% of them even outside of J. Duckworth's double faults thanks to his aggressive play that followed his serves.

Winning his second title within the fortnight, L. Harris' rank improved back to 126 live, while J. Duckworth stayed at 104 for his runner-up finish. Their next tournament will be the Guangzhou Challenger, where L. Harris will face Coleman Wong as the fourth seed and J. Duckworth, as the second seed, will face Dane Sweeny in an all-Australian first-round affair. Definitely onwards for both players alikez

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

L. Harris then had a solid start to the second set by holding his serves to 1-0 before his aggression started to get the best out of J. Duckworth, where he started with a 2-point lead due to the latter's various unforced errors. Even if the Australian first seed secured his game point through a working volley on the line, L. Harris' preceding forehand down-the-line that outhit J. Duckworth's backhand resulted in a crucial deuce to precede the latter's double-fault for L. Harris' break to 2-0.

L. Harris had not looked back since, holding his serves to 3-0, while J. Duckworth tried to prevent demolition by putting his name on the board with a hold (3-1). He even had a rare backhand pass several moments later before L. Harris held to 5-2, but the South African's service game was exceptional as he sealed the match two games later with an ace (or two aces, even), also taking the second set 6-3 to secure his second Challenger-level title within a fortnight.

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📸 ATP official website

First seed and defending champion James Duckworth, who advanced after confidently defeating rising qualifier Remy Bertola 6-3, 6-2, faced an in-form (and resurgent) fourth seed Lloyd Harris, last week's Gwangju Challenger champion, who also straightforwardly defeated Mark Lajal 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. While this could have delivered some point construction goods between them, their serving level was also determined by their follow-up groundstrokes, which also partly contributed to how the first set flowed this time around.

J. Duckworth had a nervy start to this match, having to engage in a longer rally that finished in his forehand error until having to save 3 break points that was also happened due to his double fault, one of those through a working volley. He might have managed to hold the said service game 1-0 to put his name on the board, but this was proven insufficient as L. Harris steadily became in control of the match, as the Australian first seed had an unideal start to the fourth game due to his forehand error, followed by the latter's defensive efforts that resulted in his failed volley.

It was just the beginning to J. Duckworth having to face 2 break points, one of which came from L. Harris' smashing finish before it came again 2 points later due to the former's double fault, which was converted due to his +1 forehand error to 3-1. Without any further ado, the South African fourth seed held his serves to 4-1 and kept dominating the play as he tried to bring J. Duckworth off-balance toward the end of the first set, as the latter had a failed volley for the former's one-point lead at the third point of the ninth game before breaking for the first set due to a misfired backhand (too wide). This way, L. Harris took the first set 6-3, where he was, technically, one set away from the title.

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Savannah Ch SF: Andres Andrade [Q] def. Maxime Janvier 7-5, 6-0 Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

A. Andrade already controlled the flow from the start thanks to his aggressive approach, already scoring a shot winner as he tried to figure out the rhythm from the baseline. In between, he trusted his point construction and shot selections, which often overwhelmed M. Janvier as the latter ran out of options throughout the second set. The dominance became evident as A. Andrade generated 8 break points, converting 50% of them as aiming toward M. Janvier's groundstrokes by striking more cleanly became more effective, while the Frenchmen had one chance to break earlier in the first set, but A. Andrade's strong serving managed to save the sole break point that also contributed to his massive hold later on, thus his improving confidence in his strikes.

Speaking of A. Andrade's solid service games, even though both players scored an ace each, the Ecuadorian qualifier managed to score 89% behind his first serves, 28% more than M. Janvier, which helped him get away from most problems on his serve and appeared more clutch in between. However, the rushed follow-ups from M. Janvier in the second set faded his second serve winning percentage to 39%, 17% behind A. Andrade, which also included his 3 double faults along the way to add salt to the wound.

In his maiden Challenger-level final, where he became the second straight qualifier to advance to this round after Tristan Boyer last year, A. Andrade will face Alexander Ritschard, who earlier defeated Dmitry Popko 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach his first Challenger final since the Lyon Challenger last year. Offensives were one, but the execution of their point construction became another aspect of attention as pacing (considering the wind direction as well, as evident in the semifinals) also became a crucial factor in tomorrow's finals. Should be an intriguing match-up needing consistency to mostly determine the rest!