#NextGenATP Bueno banks second Challenger title; Harris goes back-to-back

#NextGenATP Gonzalo Bueno continued his breakthrough season Sunday by capturing his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the year. The 20-year-old is just the second Peruvian to win multiple Challenger titles in a season over the past 15 years, alongside World No. 106 Juan Pablo Varillas.

Bueno, who won the Buenos Aires Challenger in January, defeated Argentine Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-4, 6-0 in the Challenger Dove Men+Care Concepcion final to lift the trophy.

“I knew I had to fight until the end of the first set because the match was going to level out,” said Bueno, who is up to a career-high No. 288 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. “Luckily I won the first set and after the first set, he lowered his level and I kept going, that made me win the match. That set was very hard fought, but I was able to win it and the momentum was very strong.”

Following his triumph on the Chilean clay, Bueno is up six spots to seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The Trujillo native was a sparring partner at the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals, hitting with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas, a trio of players who have previously won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.

"It would be incredible to qualify, I hope I can qualify by the end of the year,” Bueno said of the 20-and-under season finale, which runs from 18-22 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In other action, former World No. 31 Lloyd Harris extended his winning streak to 10 by completing back-to-back titles in Asia. The South African followed his Gwangju title run with a dominant week at the Shenzhen Luohu Challenger, where he dropped just one set en route to the trophy.

Harris ousted top-seeded Australian James Duckworth 6-3, 6-3 in the final. The 27-year-old is up to No. 126 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, continuing his push to return to the Top 100 for the first time since August 2022, two months after he underwent right wrist surgery.

^{Lloyd Harris triumphs at the Shenzhen Luohu Challenger. Credit: Shuang Lang}

Spaniard Alejandro Moro Canas secured his first Challenger title at the Roma Garden Open. The 23-year-old, now No. 170 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, defeated #NextGenATP Lithuanian Vilius Gaubas 7-5, 6-3 in the championship match.

“It’s amazing. I was coming from my first ATP main draw last week and now I won my first Challenger,” said Moro Canas, who defeated Dominic Thiem at the ATP 250 in Munich. “It was also my first final. I was feeling so comfortable here in Rome, coming with a lot of confidence. I saw that I can beat players like Dominic last week and I knew this week if I could play that kind of game, I would have chances.

“I trust myself a little bit more and I believe more in my game. The goals at the beginning of the season were to win an ATP Challenger and break the Top 200. I reached it before May, so we have to sit and talk about new goals.”

^{Alejandro Moro Canas wins his maiden Challenger title in Rome. Credit: ATP Challenger Tour}

Swiss Alexander Ritschard triumphed on the green clay at the Savannah Challenger to win his second title at that level and first since October 2022. The 30-year-old, seeded fifth, did not drop a set all tournament and cruised past Ecuador’s Andres Andrade 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous the night before [the final], just because I’ve never played Andres before,” Ritschard told commentator Blair Henley. “Kind of unsure what to expect. As I started playing him, I started to settle and start to understand how he plays.

“I’m actually more happy with the mental side of things. I know my coach would say this a million times, but the tennis has always been there. I just need to stay organised in my head and not get upset and play point for point.”

^{Alexander Ritschard in action at the Savannah Challenger, where he won his first clay-court title. Credit: Allie Robinson}

Bosnian Damir Dzumhur lifted his 10th Challenger trophy at the Ostra Group Open 2024 By Purposia, where the top seed overcame windy conditions and German Henri Squire 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in a two-hour, three-minute final.

Despite trailing 1-5 in the deciding set, the 31-year-old Dzumhur tallied six consecutive games to triumph. The former World No. 23 also won the Barletta Challenger three weeks ago.

^{Damir Dzumhur wins his second Challenger title of 2024 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Credit: Lukáš Březin}

Congratulations to this week's doubles champions 👏#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/2moHMKxd2R

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 28, 2024