A LOOK BACK
Jalisco Open (Guadalajara, Mexico): Mirza Basic of Bosnia & Herzegovina captured his first ATP Challenger Tour title since July 2015 (Recanati, Italy) by defeating #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4. The 25 year old weathered a difficult draw to prevail, taking out top seed Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic in the quarter-finals and fourth seed Jason Jung of Taipei in the semi-finals.
The 17-year-old Shapovalov came into the final on a nine-match winning streak in Challengers, having won his maiden title last week on home soil in Drummondville. He also had a difficult path to the championship match, defeating good friend and fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the second-round and former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz in the semi-finals.
Quanzhou Open (Quanzhou, China): Sixth seed Thomas Fabbiano continued his love affair with China by defeating qualifier and fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini 7-6(5), 7-6(7) in the championship match. Fabbiano also finished runner-up this month in Zhuhai, where he won the tournament last year.
The 20-year-old Berrettini drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals after finishing runner-up last November on home soil in Andria. He stood at No. 883 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this past October, but is projected to move well inside the Top 300 on the following Monday.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Basic: "The last title I had was in July 2015, so I'm very happy to be back and making some wins. I really enjoyed my time here. I knew it was going to be a tough match because Denis is young and up-and-coming, but I think I was solid and more patient than him today."
A LOOK AHEAD
There are two Challengers on the schedule this week, with the $75,000 event in Leon, Mexico, taking top billing as it returns for the for the 15th straight year. Estrella Burgos is the top seed once again and could face Shapovalov in the second-round. #NextGenATP Americans Ernesto Escobedo and Stefan Kozlov are the second and fourth seeds, respectively, while Pospisil is the third seed. Basic is in the draw and looks for another big week in Mexico.
The $50,000 tournament in St. Brieuc, France, is back for the 14th consecutive year. Gerald Melzer of Austria is the top seed and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine is the second seed. #NextGenATP player and local favourite Quentin Halys also competes this week as the fifth seed.
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