If there is a country that is setting the tone in tennis at the start of the 2022 season, that is Spain. Although he had already done it on the ATP Tour with seven titles, this week two more trophies have been added on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Led by Fernando Verdasco and Carlos Taberner, the Navy added its first two crowns of the course on the Challenger circuit at the Abierto GNP Seguros de Monterrey (Mexico) and the Roseto Degli Abruzzi 1 (Italy), respectively.
Verdasco, who started as the main seed, did not fail his status as favorite and completed a stellar performance to achieve the second title in this category – and first since winning El Espinar in Segovia (Spain) in 2007.
In addition, it is the first title for the man from Madrid since he won the ATP 250 in Bucharest in 2016. To get it he had to beat Zhe Li in the first round, Aleksandar Kovacevic in the second round, Michael Mmoh in the quarterfinals, Christian Harrison in the semifinals and Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the final 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 6-4.
Meanwhile, look who won a trophy again ????@FerVerdasco is crowned in Monterrey, recovering from a set against to be the champion of the @ATPChallenger @Open_GNP
It is his first ???? since Bucharest 2016 in the @atptour for the ????????pic.twitter.com/REUAO0XTby
— ATP Tour en Español (@ATPTour_ES) March 13, 2022
For his part, Taberner took an important step this Sunday on the Italian clay to return to the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings. The Valencian won the fifth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of his career, after beating Portugal’s Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-3.
Before that, he had to beat Lorenzo Giustino in the first round, Jozef Kovalik in the second round, his compatriot Carlos Gimeno in the quarterfinals and fellow Spaniard Nikolas Sánchez Izquierdo. He did it without giving up a single set.
In this way, Verdasco and Taberner join a list of champions in 2022 that Rafael Nadal was already part of with three ATP Tour titles in Melbourne, the Australian Open and Acapulco; Roberto Bautista, champion in Doha; Carlos Alcaraz, winner of the Río Open; Albert Ramos Viñolas, who prevailed in Córdoba; and Pedro Martínez, who did it in Santiago de Chile.
