ATP Challenger Segovia: Benjamin Bonzi wins the anniversary tournament and follows in the footsteps of Nadal and Co.
It was 1991 and Pedro Muñoz had a vision for professional tennis in Spain. When the players from the Iberian Peninsula were about to dominate the world's clay courts, he created the Open Castilla y León Villa de El Espinar - on hard court, which would set it apart from other tournaments in the country.
by Florian Heer from Segovia
last edit: Aug 02, 2021, 10:11 am
Since then, the event has been held as part of the ATP Challenger Tour in the idyllic El Espinar, also known as the gateway to Castile-León, as the municipality in the province of Segovia with around 10,000 inhabitants is the first place in Castile-León beyond Madrid of the Guadarrama Mountains.
The tournament area is located in the middle of the recently rebuilt 'Reserva de la Biosfera' (biosphere reserve). It comprises 35,414 hectares of protected land, with mountain peaks, pastures, pine forests and wide plains surrounding the facility.
Many stars have already served here and some were able to enter the glorious list of winners. Rafael Nadal (2003) and Juan Martin Del Potro (2006) are probably the best-known names. But Sergi Bruguera (2000), Fernando Verdasco (2007) and Pablo Carreno Busta (2013) were also successful in El Espinar.
Anniversary edition in memory of Muñoz
Last week, the “Internacional de España en Pista Rápida” - the international Spanish championships on fast surfaces - celebrated their 30th anniversary. Pedro Muñoz, who also served as President of the Madrid and Spanish Tennis Associations between 2001 and 2009, was honored at the beginning of the tournament week. He died earlier this year at the age of 72.
"This tournament was important for the city of Segovia and the region as a whole," said tournament director and former number 1 in the WTA double world rankings, Virginia Ruano.
"In terms of tennis, it is a big contributor to the growth of the sport in Spain. It has helped a lot of young Spanish players as it is an important and unique tournament on the calendar for them. For me, the tournament goes on after everything we did last year have gone through, continued and endured such a difficult time with the pandemic.
We have reached our 35th edition overall and 30th on the ATP Challenger Tour. However, it is sad that the creator and president of the tournament, Pedro Muñoz, cannot be there. I know the entire organization will work with double enthusiasm to manage his legacy as well as possible, just as Pedro would like. "
El Espinar reaches milestone
The Open Castilla y León is only the fifth event on the Challenger Tour, which has reached the milestone of 30 tournaments. Two weeks ago, the Tampere Open in Finland celebrated its 39th anniversary, followed by San Luis Potosi, Mexico (34), as well as Istanbul, Turkey (34) and Aptos, California, USA (32).
Another Spanish tournament - the Copa Sevilla - will also be 30 years old in September.
Bonzi wins anniversary tournament
Benjamin Bonzi was victorious this year. The 25-year-old Frenchman defeated the Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven 7: 6 (10), 3: 6, 6: 4 on a sunny final Sunday. Bonzi celebrated his third tournament victory on the ATP Challenger Tour and thus made it into the top 100 of the world rankings for the first time.
"It was important today to be focused because Tim played a very strong match," said Bonzi after the almost three-hour game. “To get into the top 100 is a great achievement - and I have achieved one of the goals for the season with it. But the journey should not end. I want to go further. Let's see what the future brings."
As every year, both finalists received prize money and valuable ATP world ranking points as well as a handcrafted crystal bowl that is made in the Royal Crystal Factory in nearby La Granja. These are hand-blown and fire-gilded unique items based on originals from the 18th century. Also a specialty of this tournament in El Espinar.