Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti overcame French rival Clement Tabur in two sets 6-4, 6-2 to claim the second week of the Rwanda Challenger 50 Tour that concluded in Kigali on Sunday.
Trungelliti, 34, had lost the first week to Polish Kamil Majchrzak after the latter beat him 6-4,6-4 in the final before watchful hundreds of tennis enthusiasts including President Paul Kagame, First Lady Jeannette Kagame and French former tennis star Yannick Noah but he never stopped to believe.
He came back stronger to claim his first Challenger 50 Tour title since 2019 and the third of his career.
His mother, who traveled to Africa for the first time, barely digested Trungelliti’s final loss to Majchrzak during the first week, but she is returning to Argentina the happiest woman after watching her son first take revenge over the Pole when he beat him 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinal on Saturday before he went on to take the week 2 trophy away from Tabur after beating him 6-4,6-2 on Sunday.
"Winning this competition is orgasmic. I lost the final last week but I am happy to win this week. I will come back next year," said Trungelliti after the victory.
Trungelliti bagged 80 points from Rwanda Challenger in the singles category over the past two weeks. Sunday’s final win earned him 50 points a week after collecting 30 points from reaching the final of the first week.