Italian Marco Cecchinato lost in the final round of qualifying in straight sets at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. Yet seven days later, the World No. 92 will leave Hungary as a first-time ATP World Tour champion. After gaining entry to the main draw in Budapest as a lucky loser, Cecchinato never looked back. And even though he had never reached a tour-level semi-final prior to this week, the Italian defeated Aussie John Millman, another first-time finalist, 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday to claim his maiden trophy. "I lost Sunday and now I won the tournament. It's amazing for me," Cecchinato said. "Maybe it's a dream, I don't know." Cecchinato is the first lucky loser to triumph since Leonardo Mayer won in...
Neither team competing in the Gazprom Hungarian Open final on Sunday had played together prior to this week. But one of the pairings knew they’d be leaving Hungary with an ATP World Tour title. That team was Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor, capturing the Budapest trophy with a victory against Matwe Middelkoop and Andres Molteni 6-7(8), 6-1, 10-8 in one hour, 34 minutes. "I want to thank everyone who came out and supported us and really showed good support for the doubles, so thank you," Inglot said. It is the first ATP World Tour triumph for the Croatian, Skugor, who had lost his previous six tour-level matches with three different partners prior to arriving in Hungary. His partner, Inglot, claims...
John Millman saved three match points to reach his first ATP World Tour final at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, defeating 2017 finalist Aljaz Bedene 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5). "It was brutal tennis out there," said Millman. " I am super happy to be in the final." The semi-final, which was suspended after two sets on Saturday due to darkness, resumed on Sunday morning with both men failing to convert match points before reaching a decisive tie-break. Millman had served for the match at 5-4, with a match point at 40/30, before saving three match points at 5-6. The Australian took control in the tie-break to open up a 5/1 lead before Bedene reeled him back to 6/5. But the World No....
The three Italians remaining at the start of Friday's quarter-finals in Budapest were on the verge of making history. But last year's runner-up at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, Slovenian Aljaz Bedene, spoiled the party. The No. 5-seeded Bedene defeated qualifier Lorenzo Sonego in the Italian's first ATP World Tour quarter-final 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in two hours, 22 minutes on Friday to reach the sixth tour-level semi-final of his career. The World No. 57 will look to advance to his fourth final (0-3) when he plays John Millman on Saturday. Millman reached the semi-finals after just one game of play on Saturday morning, serving out his delayed quarter-final against Yannick Maden to win 2-6, 6-1 6-4. Darkness had suspended their encounter,...
The Gazprom Hungarian Open, a 2018 ATP ACES For Charity grant recipient, held a successful kids' day Wednesday in Budapest, benefitting more than 400 children. The tournament also donated three junior-sized sports wheelchairs, which kids used to play tennis with the help of wheelchair tennis instructors and ATP World Tour pros. Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, No. 2 seed Damir Dzumhur, Colombian Santiago Gonzalez, Briton Dominic Inglot, Germans Yannick Maden and Maximilian Marterer, Japan's Ben McLachlan, Aussie John Millman, Hungarian Zsombor Piros, top seed Lucas Pouille, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, Croatian Franko Skugor, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, and Swede Elias Ymer joined the festivities to help create a memorable experience for all of the kids. The event was held in tandem with the...
