Brendan Evans claimed the AEGON Trophy men’s singles title with a 6-7(4) 6-5 7-6(4) victory over Ilia Bozoljac at the Nottingham Tennis Centre on Sunday.
Both players posted impressive performances in front of an enthusiastic crowd of tennis fans sitting courtside at the venue’s indoor tennis complex. Ultimately though, it was Evans’ relentless pursuit of the net position that decided the title.
The opener went with serve until the tenth game when, trailing 4-5, Bozoljac was forced to fight off break points on his serve in order to square up the set at 5-5.
The set went to a tiebreak with the combatants neck-and-neck until the eighth point when Bozoljac’s persistent serve-volley tactics won him a mini break on the Evans serve.
The Serbian retained that advantage to take the breaker seven points to four, prompting Evans to hurl his racket across the court with a cry of “why?”. Visibly frustrated the American refused to sit down at the change of ends.
In the opening game of the second set Evans earned himself two break points on Bozoljac’s service but his advances were repelled by more big serving and agile net play from the Belgrade resident.
Some accurate returning earned Bozoljac his first break point of the second set in the fourth game, but Evans delivered two huge serves to keep things on an even keel.
Pressing his serve-volley game into service, the world No.159 American reapplied the pressure on Bozoljac’s next service game, this time making the breakthrough, but he had to battle hard to hold on to his serve in the very next game to extend his lead to 4-2.
Trailing 3-4 with Evans serving, Bozoljac’s applied some pressure of his own, holding three separate break-back points. But he was unable to convert and, despite serving out his next game to love, he was soon facing two set points on the Evans serve.
The American needed only one, closing out the set with a tidy serve/backhand volley combo to level the match at a set apiece.
As the third set unfolded both players set themselves the task of claiming the fruitful point-scoring territory at the net.
The decider went with serve, culminating in a tiebreak where Evans took the early advantage and, despite two blistering passing shots from Bozoljac, was never headed.
The world No.159 ran away with the breaker seven points to four, the AEGON Trophy title and maintained a perfect 3-0 head-to-head record over Bozoljac.
A delighted Evans said it was a hard-fought win. “It was a long match with lots of ups and downs and it was tough,” said the 23-year-old.
“I had a lot of chances throughout and I wasn’t always certain I would pull through because I wasn’t capitalising on them and he was playing so well.
“I enjoyed the matches on grass this week and the indoor courts were very quick so it was a challenge so I thought we both adjusted very well,” he said of his second Challenger title for the year.
The men’s singles and doubles finals wrapped up an exciting week’s tennis at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, Maria Elena Camerin winning the women’s singles title and Natalie Grandin and Alexa Glatch claiming the women’s doubles title.