ATP Challenger: Stebe and Bachinger in the title rush

German dream weekend on the ATP-Challenger-Tour: While Cedrik-Marcel Stebe won the clay court tournament in the Romanian Sibiu, Matthias Bachinger triumphed at the Hartplatzevent in Gwangju (South Korea).

All good things come in threes.After the tournament victories in Poprad-Tatry and Vancouver, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe also won the 43,000 US Dollar Sibiu Open in Romania.In the final, 26-year-old left-hander Carlos Taberner from Spain defeated the team with 6:3 and 6:3.In the preliminary round, the top-set had only three games against fellow countryman Maximilian Marterer.

Stebe returns to the top 80 with the seventh Challenger title in his career.The German Davis Cup player is expected to improve his career best mark (ATP 71) this season.

For Matthias Bachinger (ATP 269) it was the first Challenger title this season and the fourth overall.At the Gwangju Challenger, which was endowed with $50,000 US dollars, the unseeded Munich player had played his way into the final without losing a set.In the final match, the 30-year-old won 6-3,6-4 against Tsung-Hua Yang from Taiwan.

Six years after his last Challenger coup in Athens, Bachinger is now back in the top 200.Lars Übel’s protégé was already number 85 in the world rankings in 2011.