Sanchez-Casal-Challenger: Champion Salvatore Caruso reaches top 100
After 2018, the ATP Challenger Tour stopped again at the Sanchez Casal Academy. After the success of the Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena in the premiere edition, Salvatore Caruso prevailed this year. The Italian seeded number 4 defeated Jozef Kovalik from Slovakia in the final in two sets.
by Florian Heer from Barcelona
last edit:
Oct 06, 2019, 06:50 pm
On a mostly cloudy Sunday morning in the greater Barcelona area, Caruso was the dominant player. The 26-year-old from Avola used seven of his ten breakballs and left the course after 1 hour and 20 minutes with 6: 4, 6: 2.
"Jozef played a really great week, but I wanted this success so much today," Caruso said afterwards. “The tournament victory gave me the opportunity to move into the top 100 for the first time. I am very happy to have achieved this. ”
It was the second triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour for Caruso, who won his first trophy in Como last season. There is also 6,190 euros in prize money and 80 ATP world ranking points.
"But the journey should not end here," said the ambitious Italian, who already made an exclamation mark at the French Open when he entered the third round. "I'm looking forward to the rest of the tasks. I want to improve my tennis further. Now I'm going back to Sicily for training, then I'll start the indoor season in Antwerp. ”
Spaniards fail early
Defending champion Carballes-Baena returned to Catalonia this year as the top seeded player. However, number 76 in the ATP world rankings had to give up in the third round against Kovalik due to a neck injury in the third set.
It was the Slovak who buried Carlos Taberner's hopes for a first triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour. In the quarter-finals, Kovalik fended off five match balls against the Spaniard to make it clear to the round of the last four. The 22-year-old Jaume Munar, number two, was the last local hero to lose in the Salvatore Caruso individual competition in the semi-final.
Molleker sick
It was also not optimal for the German-speaking actors. After a walk-through in the first round and a two-set win against wildcard holder Alejandro Moro Canas, Rudolf Molleker was the only German starter in the field to withdraw from his third round match against Munar due to illness.
In the doubles, the Austrian Tristan-Samuel Weissborn on the side of Uruguayan Ariel Behar already failed in the second round. The duo placed at number 2 was defeated by Nikola Cacic from Serbia and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo from Chile in two sets.
The double competition was ultimately won by the Italian veteran Simone Bolelli and the Spaniard David Vega Hernandez. The number 4 team defeated Sergio Martos Gornes from Spain and the Indian Ramkumar Ramanathaa 6: 4, 7: 5 on Saturday afternoon.
Challenge system on sand
The tournament at the Sanchez-Casal Academy was the seventh and last ATP Challenger event of the year, which was held on Spanish soil. There was a peculiarity, because the players had the opportunity to intervene lines judges decisions using FoxTenn technology. It remains to be seen whether the ball tracking system will prevail on sand even in larger tournaments. However, the impressions in Barcelona were quite positive.
"Referees and players are quieter when there is an opportunity to challenge," champion Caruso was pleased with the innovation. "There are fewer arguments. It would be nice to see the technology on a larger stage. ”