Ruth Roura and Pol Martín add individual awards
October is proving to be an excellent month for the more modest Spanish professional tennis. From Challenger to ITF, titles are falling at all levels. This past Sunday, Spanish tennis celebrated the title of Roberto Bautista in the 250 in Antwerp and Martín Landaluce in the Challenger 125 in Olbia. The last time Spanish tennis celebrated an ATP title or higher and a Challenger was on July 14 of this year, three months ago. The protagonists then were Carlos Alcaraz (Wimbledon) and Roberto Carballés in Braunschweig (Germany).
We start the count in the women’s ITF circuit. In the W50 of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (France), Irene Burillo reached the quarterfinals. In the W35 of Santa Margerita di Pula (Italy), Aliona Bolsova and Carlota Martínez reached the semifinals. In the W35 of Faro (Portugal), Eva Guerrero reached the quarterfinals. In the W15 of Bol (Croatia), Cristina Díaz reached the final and in the W15 of Sant Vicenç de Torelló (Barcelona), Ruth Roura won both titles, defeating the Dutch Joy de Zeeuw in the individual final 6-1 and 7-6. At 18 years old, she has won two doubles titles and two singles titles. Claudia Ferrer and Ana Giraldi reached the doubles semifinals.
In the men’s ITF, in the M25k of Santa Margherita di Pula (Italy), Pol Martín won the title by defeating Bulgarian Nesterov 6-2 and 7-6 in the final. It is his fourth title of the year, a record, and 11th overall. In the M25k of Sintra (Portugal), John Echeverría reached the quarterfinals and Echeverría and Javier Molino reached the doubles semifinals. In the M15 of Tsaghkadzor (Armenia), Álvaro Bueno won the doubles title (his second this year). In the M15k of Castellón (Valencian Community), Diego Barreto reached the semifinals and Albert Pedrico, Sergi Pérez, Imanol López, and Max Alcalá reached the quarterfinals; in doubles, Albert Pedrico and Alejandro Melero reached the final and Alejandro García, Mario Mansilla, Luis García, and Nico Rating reached the doubles semifinals.
In the M15 of Monastir (Tunisia), Iñaki Montes reached the individual semifinals and won the doubles title (his second of the year and seventh overall). And in the M15 of Winston-Salem (USA), Pedro Ródenas reached the semifinals.
In the Challenger circuit, in the 125 in Olbia (Italy), Martín Landaluce won his first Challenger title, beating the experienced Mattia Bellucci 6-4 and 6-4 in the final, with Javier Cosano reaching the quarterfinals and Íñigo Cervantes reaching the doubles final. Spanish tennis now has 11 individual Challenger titles and another eight in doubles. Individually, only France (24), Argentina (20), and the USA (12) surpass us. The 11 individual Challenger titles equal the mark of 2021. In 2019, before the pandemic, there were 14. And there are still six weeks left on the circuit. And two events in Spain: Montemar (Alicante) and Maspalomas (Gran Canaria).
