Henry Searle lifts first ATP Challenger title in Dublin
• 2 minute read
20-year-old British star Henry Searle captured the biggest title of his career so far at the Dublin Challenger this week – adding to his success on the grass.
The former Wimbledon boys’ singles champion was a wild card entry into the tournament and fought his way through to the final against Austria’s Jurij Rodionov.
The young Brit continued the impressive form he’d shown all week, defeating the world No.152 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
“He played really well in his semi-final,” said Searle. “I had a game plan going in and managed to stick to it, break through, keep the pressure on, and eventually get the win.”
Searle – who is supported by the LTA Pro Scholarship Programme, presented by Lexus – is hitting his stride on the grass at just the right time ahead of Wimbledon.
The British rising star has a wild card into singles qualifying next week and will also team up with mentor Dan Evans in the men’s doubles main draw. This will be the former British No.1's final professional tournament.
“I’m excited for it,” he added. “I just need to get back, practice a little, recover, and I should be ready to go on Monday.”
Searle was the standout player in a draw that included former world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov. The Brit defeated Elias Ymer in the first round, followed by wins over Hsu Yu-hsiou and Alexis Galarneau.
In the semi-finals, he showed great fight to come back from a set down to beat third seed Kyrian Jacquet 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Searle has won two other ITF $15k tournaments this year, but his title in Dublin is by far the biggest of his career to date. He’s currently set to jump 91 places in the live ATP rankings to a new career-high world No.263.
Speaking about the Brit after the final, Rodionov said, “Honestly, I was not expecting someone who was ranked No.354 in the world to play that well, but I knew Henry plays very well on grass.
"I’ve played him once before on grass, and I lost there too. He was the better player today. He deserved to win.”
