RA’ANANA, April 3, 2016

Runner-up Ricardas Berankis and champion Evgeny Donskoy (photo: Israel Open)

Top-seed Evgeny Donskoy is the champion of the $125,000 Israel Open, winning the final of the ATP Challenger event on Sunday against the tournament’s number three Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-4.

The world number 82 from Russia, who won the only previous meeting between the two in Moscow 2015, sent down seven aces and won 94% of his first service points. Donskoy didn’t face a break point, converting three of his own five chances to claim his eighth Challenger career title after 66 minutes.

“Thank you everyone for coming today. I hope you enjoyed the tennis today. Today was a hard match. I’m good friend with Ricardas, so I was a little bit nervous on the court, but I guess I was just more lucky today,” Donskoy told.

“The atmosphere here is awesome. This is my second time in this tournament. I enjoyed coming back here and hope to come back here next year. “

The 25-year-old from Moscow earns $18,000 in prize money as wells as 110 ATP ranking points and will now start his clay court season at the ATP 250 Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech next week, taking on Pablo Carreno-Busta in the opening round.