It was quite a week for new titlists on the ATP World Tour. Not only were there two new winners to take home silverware on the ATP World Tour but both of those winners were qualifiers.
Quito and Sofia saw those qualifiers take home titles while in Montpelier, there was an expected all-French final.
First-Time Winners Headline Post-Davis Cup Week
Three ATP 250s took place with Quito being the only clay event while Sofia and Montpelier took place on hard courts. In Ecuador, Victor Estrella Burgos was the three-time defending champion but fell at his second hurdle for a fourth successive title, losing to Gerald Melzer.
Albert Ramos Viñolas faced off against Roberto Carballes Baena as the qualifier was not only looking for a sixth successive win in the tournament but a first-ever ATP title as well. The qualifier held his nerve the second time around, serving out for the first set and was the more composed of the two in the final set to win a first title.
Carballes Baena was not the only qualifier to win a title. Mirza Basic joins Damir Dzumhur as tour-level winners from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Basic won seven matches en route to his title over Marius Copil.
The last final that took place was in Montpelier. French players headlined the field as well as Nitto ATP Finals finalists David Goffin. In the end, we saw an all-French final between Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille. Gasquet got through a tough three-setter with Goffin despite losing the second set 0-6.
Pouille was lucky enough to get through to the final after an unfortunate hamstring injury hit Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga took the opening set 6-1 and even served for the match, but Pouille saved a couple of match points before his countryman had to call it quits at five-all in the third.
