GUANGSZHOU/STARNBERG, September 17, 2023
Terence Atmane has captured his second ATP Challenger Tour title in China in the past three weeks. Following his triumph in Zhangjiagang 14 days ago, the 21-year-old Frenchman lifted the trophy of the third edition of the Guangzhou Nansha International Challenger.
Atmane, No. 5 seed of the $80,000 hard-court event held at the Guangzhou Nansha International Tennis Center, rallied from a set down and saved three match points to outlast second-seeded Australian Marc Polmans 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in a thrilling singles final on Saturday.
The World No. 173 advanced to the championship match with wins in the top half of the draw over Italian veteran Lorenzo Giustino, US-American Alafia Ayena, top seed Christopher O’Connell from Australia and fourth favourite Yunchaokete Bu of China.
Atmane struck 12 aces and broke Polmans’ serve three times. The Boulougne-Sur-Mer native outpointed his rival 113-110 to prevail after two hours and 59 minutes.
The winning moment 💪#ATPChallenger | @FFTennis pic.twitter.com/DslZvffzt2
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) September 16, 2023
By winning his second Challenger career crown, Atmane earned $10,840 in prize money as well as 75 ATP Ranking points.
Bellier/Castelnuovo triumph in doubles
In other action, Antoine Bellier and Luca Castelnuovo captured the doubles title. The unseeded Swiss tandem defeated No. 2 seeds Ray Ho from Chinese Taipei and Australian Matthew Christopher Romios 6-3, 7-6(5). The encounter lasted one hour and 19 minutes.
Bellier and Castelnuovo split $4,645 in prize money and pocketed 75 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
