SHYMKENT, May 12, 2019
Andrej Martin clinched his second title of the season, winning the $54,160 Shymkent Challenger held on clay courts at the National Tennis Center. The No. 4 seed from Slovakia defeated in-form Dmitry Popko from Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday’s singles final.
Popko arrived in Kazakhstan after lifting seven trophies on the ITF World Tennis Tour this year and entered the ATP Challenger 80 event with a wild card. The 22-year-old beat Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, Thiago Seyboth Wild from Brazil, No. 3 seeded Austrian Jurij Rodionov, Sanjar Fayziev of Uzbekistan and No. 5 seeded compatriot Aleksandr Nedovysesov en route to the title match.
Martin fought his way into the final with wins over Jacob Grills of Australia, ITF-entry Alxander Zhurbin from Russia, Gerald Melzer from Austria, Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera of Chile and top seed Egor Gerasimov from Belarus. The 29-year-old from Slovakia won three points more than his opponent in the title match to secure victory in two hours and 55 minutes.
By earning his 11th ATP Challenger crown, Martin collected $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP-Ranking points.
Martin celebration/@AndrejMartinSVK / (info – @hotdog6969 ) (🎥@ATPChallenger ) pic.twitter.com/3Z8mEB7HPU
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) 12. Mai 2019
On Saturday, Jurij Rodionov of Austria and Emil Ruusuvuori from Finland took the doubles title. The unseeded pair upset the tournament’s top seeds Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal and Andrei Vasilevski from Belarus in the final, winning 6-4, 3-6, 10-8. The encounter lasted one hour and 19 minutes.
