Portugal’s Gastao Elias picked up his second ITF World Tennis Tour title in four months after defeating 17-year-old Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune in the final at M25 Villena.

Elias, who has a career-high ranking of No. 57, had not dropped a set going into the final against the up-and-coming Dane, but it was Rune who started quickest, racing to take the opening set 6-3. The 30-year-old Portuguese player kept his cool, however, and battled back to win the match 3-6 6-2 6-1.

It was Elias’ first title this year but his second on the World Tennis Tour since scooping the trophy at M25 Porto in October.

Despite losing, Rune improved his win-loss record this year to 13-2, having reached the final at all three of his World Tennis Tour outings in 2021.

There was more good news for Portuguese tennis as Nuno Borges emerged victorious at M15 Antalya. The No. 6 seed had reached the semi-finals in Antalya for the past two weeks, and having gone one round better this week, his opponent, Serbia’s Miljan Zekjic, retired in the final to hand him the title.

Borges, a mainstay of the World Tennis Tour, has picked up multiple titles every year since 2017 and looks like he could repeat that feat in 2021.

It was an all-Russian final on home soil at M15 St Petersburg, as 18-year-old qualifier Alibek Kachmazov overcame his higher-ranked countryman Alexey Zakharov 6-4 5-7 6-4 to clinch his first professional title.

Finland’s Otto Virtanen enjoyed a fruitful week at M15 Nur-Sultan, capturing his second title on the World Tennis Tour just three months after winning his first in November. Virtanen defeated Germany’s Mats Rosenkranz 7-5 6-3 in the final.

At M15 Sharm El Sheikh, Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Yu Hsiou came through qualifying to lift his third career title. The 21-year-old overcame Belgium’s Arnaud Bovy 6-4 6-4 to cap a successful week on Egyptian soil.

And finally, it was a week to remember for Britain’s Stuart Parker at M15 Monastir in Tunisia. The 23-year-old won his first title with a tough 6-3 4-6 7-6(5) victory over Belgium’s Yannick Mertens. It was Parker’s first tournament of the year.

The ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour continues this week with action in six tournaments. Follow the live scores