Blanch, 18, becomes youngest Tiburon Challenger champion
Eighteen-year-old Darwin Blanch beat three of the Tiburon Challenger’s top four seeds and came back from a set down to take the men’s singles title, becoming the youngest champion in the tournament’s history.
Blanch, of Boca Raton, Florida, defeated No. 4 seed and 2018 winner Michael Mmoh 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the Sept. 20 final at the Tiburon Peninsula Club. It was his first title on the Challenger Tour.
Earlier that afternoon Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and American J.J. Tracy beat Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow in the doubles final in straight sets, 7-6 (7), 6-4.
The finals closed a weeklong tournament with 32 players in the singles main draw and 16 pairs in doubles. In its 18th year the Tiburon Challenger moved up to the ATP Challenger Tour’s 125 level this season, with a $230,000 purse more than double last year’s.
Players in the Challenger Tour are trying to earn enough points to become eligible to enter the ATP Tour and Grand Slam tournaments, which include Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Opens. The 125 level is named for the number of ranking points its singles champion collects.
Blanch, who turns 19 on Sept. 28, dropped only one set on his way to the final. He came through three sets against compatriot Stefan Kozlov in the round of 32, saving five match points and taking the last of them on a tiebreaker, then took out No. 3 seed Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina and American qualifier Bryce Nakashima in straight sets in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals Sept. 19, Blanch knocked out top seed and reigning champion Michael Zheng in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (9), winning both on tiebreakers.
“It was a pretty good week,” Blanch, who entered the tournament ranked No. 245 in the world, said after the match. “Super proud of myself, super proud of my team for the belief, every single day, working. And I’m just super happy for the effort I put in.”
Tennis commentator Mike Cation called Blanch’s forehand “the biggest weapon in the entire draw.”
“And suddenly, the fact he was able to run and get to those forehands a little bit more changed how that match got played,” Cation said after the tournament.
Mmoh, 28, of Bradenton, Florida, came into the week ranked No. 178 in the world. The No. 4 seed beat Karue Sell of Brazil in the round of 32 and American Patrick Maloney in the round of 16. He took his quarterfinal against Abdullah Shelbayh of Jordan in straight sets, then beat fellow American and wild-card entrant J.J. Wolf, 6-2, 6-2, in the other Sept. 19 semifinal.
The match turns in the second set
Though Blanch found a rhythm that, as Cation said, let him take control of the match, the first set proved a struggle for one of the youngest players to score an ATP ranking point.
With the set at 3-2, Mmoh, the 2016 Tiburon Challenger runner-up, took three of the last four games to win it 6-3, as Blanch repeatedly went into the net.
Blanch took the first three games of the second set before losing the fourth.
Though Mmoh had a break point at 40-15, long rallies on back-to-back serves pulled the game to deuce. The two traded five advantages and four more deuces before Mmoh won it.
Mmoh said after the match that “a couple of execution mistakes” in the second set shifted the match and that Blanch “definitely was the better player and really was stepping it up.”
“He can definitely, at times, take the racket out of your hand,” Mmoh said after the match. “So, 18 years old to do that is very impressive. And being a lefty, too, adds a different dynamic to it.”
Mmoh took three of the next five games to pull within one at 5-4, but Blanch served two aces across four straight points to close out the set 6-4.
Blanch opened the third set by winning three of the first four games to go up 3-1. Mmoh answered, coming back from 40-15 down to take the fifth game after two advantages and close to 3-2.
That was Mmoh’s last game. Blanch took the final three, closing the match on four straight points to win in about two hours.
Blanch said he had the week he did because he matured mentally — “probably the best thing I did all week.”
“That’s the reason why I won all these tough matches against Michael (Zheng), Stefan and … Michael Mmoh now in the final,” he said. “Mentally, and the nerves, I handle them super, super well.”
Cation made a similar point about Blanch’s maturity.
He said that the teenager has an extremely high ceiling but a volatile floor and that he had been through “a bit of a rough stretch.”
“He’s going for less in big moments and until the opportunity presents itself,” Cation said of Blanch. “I think almost everybody, in terms of tour level, expects him to be top-20 player at some point, but learning to get there, maturing is going to be the task. But this was a huge, huge step for him.”
Hach Verdugo wins a second Tiburon doubles title
Hach Verdugo and Tracy, playing together for only the second time, took the title in a 90-minute match that turned on two games in the second set. Hach Verdugo also won the Tiburon doubles crown in 2018, with Luke Saville, a partner he had teamed with for the first time a week before that tournament.
The pairs traded the first 12 games of the opening set, each holding serve, forcing a 13th-game tiebreaker. They reached 7-7 in it before Hach Verdugo and Tracy took the next two points for the set, 7-6 (7).
The pairs traded the first four games of the second set before Hach Verdugo broke in the fifth to go up 3-2. Withrow and Lammons pushed the next game to deuce and a break point, but another Hach Verdugo volley made it 4-2.
The Americans took two of the next three games to pull within one, even taking an early 15-0 lead in the 10th game before the pairs tied at 30-30. But Hach Verdugo and Tracy scored the next two points to win the set and the doubles crown.
Reach Tiburon reporter Francisco Martinez at 415-944-4634.