ATP-Challenger/ITF-Pro Circuit Round-up: Brown and Barthel with Finals

There was a lot going on next to the US Open!

Dustin Brown has already improved his form at the past Challenger tournaments: he reached the semi-finals in Meerbusch a month ago, in Como he qualified – at the 127,000 dollar tournament in Genoa/Italy he reached the finals this weekend.

The 33-year-old was in the field of the clay court event via wildcard and justified this with victories over Pablo Andujar, Andrea Basso, Lukas Rosol and Thomaz Bellucci, before losing in the final to eight seeded Lorenzo Sonego 2:6, 1:6. The double competition in Genoa was won by Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies.

Brown, the former number 64 in the tennis world, is now ranked 204th in the new world ranking. This week he is serving in Szczecin, Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, Dominik Köpfer reached the semi-finals of the Challenger tournament in Chicago ($150,000), where he lost to US hope Reilly Opelka 3:6, 6:7 (3). For Köpfer, however, this was a great success – he catapulted to 188th place this week and is thus among the top 200 in the tennis world for the first time.

The winner at ITF level was Louis Wessels: In Schlieren, Switzerland, he won the final of the $25,000 Future tournament against local hero Sandro Ehrat, winning his second singles title in 2018 and reaching the semi-finals of the ITF Future tournament in Trieste, Italy ($25,000). Successful in doubles: Christoph Negritu with Alexander Merino at the Future tournament in Monastir/Tunisia (15,000 US dollars).

Mona Barthel celebrated a successful week in the women’s singles: she reached the final in a WTA 125k series challenger in Chicago ($150,000), but Petra Martic proved too strong – the Croatian won 6-4, 6-1 and had already beaten Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Barthel won the double competition: At Kristyna Pliskova’s side she defeated Asia Muhammad/Maria Sanchez 6:3, 6:2

At ITF level, Julyette Maria Josephine Steur won the $15,000 tournament in Prague, Czech Republic. Steur won the final 7:6 (5), 7:6 (3) against Magdalena Pantuckova, who was seeded to two and thus won her second tournament victory on the ITF Womens Circuit.

Katharina Hobgarski made it to the final in Sofia/Bulgaria – including a semi-final victory over Jaqueline Adina Cristian, who was seeded to two. In the final, Barbara Haas won 6:3, 6:2.

A semi-final in Badenweiler (15,000 US dollars) also reached Lara Schmidt. She lost to Nina Stadler from Switzerland 4:6, 3:6 and Katharina Hering won the double competition alongside Dewi Dijkman.