Marrakech (ATP 250)

Champion: Matteo Berrettini (8th career title)

Runner-Up: Roberto Carballes Baena

Final Summary:

• Berrettini def. Carballes Baena 7-5 6-2 in the final. The match lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes.

• The title was Berrettini's first since mid-2022, when he was victorious on the grass courts at Queen's Club.

• Berrettini re-enters the Top 100 with a ranking of #84 following the result, marking an important milestone in his return to the tour from struggles with injury.

• Carballes Baena was attempting to defend his Marrakech title from 2023, so he will fall to #73 in the rankings despite his strong week.

Other Tournament Notes:

• Former Top 10 player Fabio Fognini [Q] made a run to the quarterfinal round as a qualifier, notably upsetting Laslo Djere [1] 7-6(1) 2-6 6-4 in the Round of 16.

• The seeded players struggled overall in the tournament, posting a combined match record of 5 wins and 8 losses.

Estoril (ATP 250)

Champion: Hubert Hurkacz [2] (8th career title)

Runner-Up: Pedro Martinez

Final Summary:

• Hurkacz def. Martinez 6-3 6-4 in the final. The match lasted 1 hour and 26 minutes.

• Hurkacz was dominant in his service games in the final, hitting 15 aces and not facing a single break point despite the slow clay surface.

• The title is the 1st of Hurkacz's career to come on clay courts.

• Martinez's run to his 2nd career final was highlighted by a semi-final upset of Casper Ruud [1] 6-4 4-6 6-4.

Other Tournament Notes:

• Two 37 year-old Frenchman with peak rankings in the Top 10 each earned an early-round victory:

  • Richard Gasquet [LL] def. Dominic Thiem 6-4 7-6(6).

  • Gael Monfils [7] def. Henrique Rocha [WC] 7-5 7-5.

• We saw a rarely cited reason for a pre-tournament withdrawal: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina withdrew prior to his first round match due to a tooth infection. Davidovich Fokina was going to be seeded 4th in the tournament.

Houston (ATP 250)

Champion: Ben Shelton [1] (2nd career title)

Runner-Up: Frances Tiafoe [3]

Final Summary:

• Shelton def. Tiafoe 7-5 4-6 6-3 in the tightly contested final, with the match lasting 2 hours and 16 minutes.

• This was the first strong result on clay in Shelton's career; he entered the tournament with a career winning percentage on clay of only 22.2% compared to an all-surface winning percentage of 54.1%.

• The result saw Shelton rise to his career-high ranking of #14, only slightly behind top-ranked American Taylor Fritz (#13). Due to Fritz’s early loss in the week’s tournament at Monte Carlo, Shelton will become the top-ranked American when new rankings are released next week.

• Tiafoe was attempting to defend his Houston title from 2023, but despite falling short, this result is a good launchpad for his clay season given his past challenges playing on the surface.

Other Tournament Notes:

• 22 year old Luciano Darderi made a surprise semi-final run, which included two victories against seeded opponents over Francisco Cerundolo [2] 6-4 2-6 7-6(4) and over Marcos Giron [7] 6-0 6-4. As a result, Darderi now reaches a career-high ranking of #64.