TENNIS – MARTON Fucsovics of Hungary was last night crowned men’s singles champion in the Bahrain Ministry of Interior Tennis Challenger 2025, which came to a close at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Top-seeded Fucsovics, ranked 97th in the world, overcame a heated challenge from Italian wild card Andrea Vavassori, the world number 240, in a thrilling, rain-hit final that needed to be suspended for two hours after Fucsovics cruised in the first set.
When the skies cleared and play resumed, Vavassori came alive and took his opponent to the maximum. But Fucsovics responded and came up with the big points late on, including breaking Vavassori in the third set’s ninth game to take a crucial lead and setting the stage for his hard-earned 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4 victory.
“I am super happy – it was a great week for me,” said Fucsovics after receiving the champion’s trophy from Chief of Public Security Lieutenant General Tariq Al Hassan during the awards ceremony.
“I thank my team, my coach, and my fiancé. They had kept me strong.
“Thanks to everyone who came out today and supported us. It was a very beautiful tournament. Thanks to everyone who took part. It was a great week and everything was perfect, and I might be back next year.”
Fucsovics also expressed his respect for Vavassori during his post-match address to the crowd. “Congratulations to Andrea,” he said. “You are a top 100 player for sure and a great guy.”
With his win, Fucsovics joined the list of past singles winners in the kingdom, including Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan last year, Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in 2023, and Ramkumar Ramanathan of India in 2021.
Vavassori was presented his runner-up trophy by the Public Security Chief in the presence of the tournament’s general supervisor Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Bahrain Tennis Federation president Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.
Fucsovics won the first set convincingly but then after the lengthy suspension could not capitalise on a late lead in the second, allowing Vavassori to edge him out in the tie-break. The fight remained heated throughout the last set and with the score tied at 4-all, Fucsovics finally broke his rival and then made no mistake with his opportunity to close the match out and seal the championship.
Thirty-three-year-old Fucsovics, who is nicknamed Marci, secured his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year in Bahrain.
Also yesterday, the pair of Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine and Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan won the men’s doubles title after beating Ivan Liutarevich of Russia and Luca Sanchez of France 6-4, 6-0 in their final.
The Bahrain MOI Tennis Challenger 2025 was part of this year’s ATP Challenger Tour calendar. It was held for a fourth time, and it offered a cool $200,000 in total prize money.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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