In late April, Eliakim Coulibaly revealed that his ambition during his five-week stay in Tunisia was to collect his first title on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

He marked that trip with his first appearance in a final, but this weekend, after a month-long break, the 19-year-old Ivorian returned to Monastir and got the reward his perseverance deserved: a first career singles title in just his 10th professional tournament.

Coulibaly, who spoke in depth to itftennis.com last month about his desire to make Africa proud, took a key first step toward that aim after defeating Australian Thomas Fancutt in the final at M15 Monastir.

The left-hander, who is mentored and managed by former Grand Slam champion Mary Piece, edged Fancutt 2-6 6-2 7-6(1) in the final - his third three-setter of the week following similar battles over Khumoyun Sultanov and Naoki Nakagawa.

Coulibaly was one of four first-time male titlists on the ITF World Tennis Tour over the weekend, along with 18-year-old Dalibor Svrcina, 21-year-old Oleksii Krutykh and 22-year-old Italian Edoardo Lavagno.

Svrcina – a former junior world No. 8 and Junior Davis Cup champion with Czech Republic in 2017 - collected his first title on home soil at M25 Most, Krutykh triumphed on home soil at M15 Novomoskovsk and Lavagno won at M15 Shymkent.

Elsewhere, former junior world No. 20 Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida continued his breakthrough season on the ITF World Tennis Tour after claiming his third title of 2021 – and first at M25 level, at M25 Kiseljak.

The 20-year-old, who also won titles at M15 Antalya and M15 Cairo this year, picked up a third clay court crown with victory over Francesco Forti in Bosnia/Herzegovina.

Brazilian Orlando Luz, 23, won his eighth career clay court title – and first since 2019 – at M15 Antalya, and there were two triumphs for British players, with 20-year-old Anton Matusevich claiming the title at M15 Kouvola, while Ryan Peniston continued his strong run in Greece with back-to-back titles at M15 Heraklion.

Swede Dragos Nicolae Madaras collected his second title of the year at M15 Bucharest, while Belgian Yannick Mertens won a 28th career ITF singles title at M15 Marbella.

The men’s action continues this week with a further nine tournaments, including six on clay and three on hard courts, headlined by the M25 tournament in Santo Domingo. Follow the latest scores here.