ATP Challenger: Brands wins first title in six years

Daniel Brands celebrated his first tournament victory in a long time on Sunday. At the ATP Challenger in Recanati, Italy, the 30-year-old won the final against Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 7-5, 6-3.

“It was a great tournament with a challenging draw, but I ended up believing in myself,” said Brands. “I want to congratulate Adrian, he got me in big trouble especially in the first movement.”

In the first round Brands, who started with a protected ranking, defeated the top seeded Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan over two tight sets, each of which went into the tiebreak. He then eliminated Salvatore Caruso and his opponent in the final, two other top 200 players.

“With this victory, I hope that after my break I can return to a more suitable ranking,” said Brands, who was already in 51st place in August 2013 and, with his victory, made up a good 50 places in the world rankings and moved into the top 250. Last year he underwent knee surgery.

Brands receives 80 points for winning the tournament, in which he did not hand in a set, and he can also look forward to a cheque for 6,190 euros. Last week Brands already had a little success: At the ATP tournament in Eastbourne, he beat Jack Sock in qualifying to secure his first victory over a top 20 player in five years.

At last week’s second Challenger event in Marburg, no DTB hope reached the final. The title went to Juan Ignacio Londero from Argentina, who defeated Dustin Brown in the first round. On the way to the title he also eliminated Carlos Berloq, Jürgen Zopp and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The 25-year-old Julian Lenz was “best placed” German, with victories over Sebastian Ofner, Rudi Molleker and Eliott Benchetrit he reached the semi-finals.