Maiden title successes continue to come
In Cancun, Fernanda Contreras Gomez, 21, collected her first maiden pro singles title with a 6-3 6-3 win over eighth seed Aleksandra Pitak and help banish memories of a 6-0 6-0 loss in the Mexican city, during her first career pro singles final, back in June.
The Mexican was not the only player winning their first pro singles title in Cancun last week. After three career appearances in pro singles finals, all in Tunisia between 2015 and 2018, Ronan Joncour finally got off the mark in Mexico. The 22-year-old came from behind to defeat junior reserved place entrant Thiago Agustin Tirante 3-6 7-5 6-1 in Sunday’s M15 Cancun final and also climbs to a new ATP career high of 682.
One other player also celebrated a first singles title at a pro tournament last weekend. 31-year-old Mircea-Alexandru Jecan reached a career first singles final whilst competing in his homeland at the M15 Curtea de Arges tournament.
Six-times a semi-finalist during his career, Jecan finally won through to a pro final with a three set defeat of fellow Romanian Nicolae Frunza. Facing the top seed, Hernan Casanova from Argentina, Jecan dropped the opening set 6-3 before levelling in a tiebreaker 7-4. Having taken the title match into a decisive third set, he pushed on to take six of the nine games played to wrap up a 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3 victory. Now ranked by the ATP at 684, he is just three places off his career best ranking achieved earlier this month.
Proving to be a seemingly unstoppable force this year, the Ratiwatana brothers reached their seventh final together from eight tournament played in 2019. This latest final came in Thailand at the M15 Hua Hin tournament and saw Sanchai and Sonchat race to a 6-2 6-0 win over Bradley Mousley and Ajeet Rai to collect a fifth 2019 title.
In Portugal and Belarus respectively, Antoine Escoffier and Artem Dubrivnyy both walked away with the singles and doubles titles at the weekend. Escoffier, competing at the M15 Sintra tournament, followed up his doubles title success alongside Maxime Tchoutakian, by winning an all-French final 7-5 6-4 over Lucas Poullain. This was his second singles title of the year and eighth of his pro career.
At the M15 Minsk tournament, Dubrivnyy also won his second singles title of 2019. Having partnered David Poljak on Saturday to the doubles title, the top seeded Russian saw off the home player Ivan Liutarevich, making his maiden appearance in a pro singles final, in straight sets to double his career singles title haul and equal his 2018 record.
Fernanda Brito, currently topping the ITF women’s rankings chart and winner of a calendar year record nine singles titles in 2018, failed to add to her two titles won back in April. Making her first final appearance since winning the last of those two titles, Brito appeared on course for victory when taking the opening set at the W15 Lambere tournament but her run in Paraguay was brought to an end as opponent Anna Morgina took the next two for a 3-6 6-2 6-2 win and take home her first title since February.
On the Tunisian clay courts it was the Argentines who dominated at the M15 Tabarka tournament. The South American nation supplied both singles finalists and three of the four players competing for the doubles title.
On Saturday Franco Feitt and Guido Ivan Justo posted a 6-4 6-2 win to claim the doubles title and in doing so replicate their title winning achievement on their first outing together in early July, which, coincidentally, was also in Tabarka. The following day Matias Zukas saw off the challenge of Tomas Martin Etcheverry in three sets 6-2 3-6 7-5 for his second singles title of 2019 and move ahead in his head-to-head record against his compatriot to lead 3-2 having entered 2019 trailing 2-1.