This week’s Challenger Tour Weekly Recap main story will not be focused on a winner from this week. Steve Darcis, often nicknamed “Shark” for his tattoo of this rapacious animal, lost the championship match in Eckental to Jiri Vesely. But it was the Belgian legend’s last Challenger Tour event and he clearly deserves the exception.<\/p>\n
Darcis has been struggling with injury issues for a long time now and hasn’t registered consecutive main draw wins since the Lisbon Challenger in May. The Eckental Challenger has been a happy hunting ground for Darcis in the past and it didn’t disappoint again.<\/p>\n
On the extremely rare nowadays carpet surface (only three ATP Challenger Tour events this year), the Belgian’s game has shined from the get-go. Following wins over James Ward and Federico Gaio, Darcis faced the top seed, Kamil Majchrzak. In a nervy deciding set, Majchrzak came back from a 3-5 deficit only to lose the last two games and the match 6-3 2-6 5-7.<\/p>\n
Darcis lived to see another day and pulled off another comeback from a set down in the quarterfinals, defeating Ilya Marchenko 6-7 7-6 6-3. His best performance came in the final four, as the Shark routined Lloyd Harris 6-2 6-4, dropping just nine points on serve in the whole match.<\/p>\n
The final was once again dominated by performance on serve. That’s just how carpet matches go. Darcis fought back from a set down but won just two points on return in the decider to lose the match 4-6 6-4 3-6.<\/p>\n
\nJiri Vesely takes the title in Eckental! <\/p>\n
The \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff celebrates his seventh #ATPChallenger<\/a> \ud83c\udfc6 and first since 2017. Congrats @jiri_vesely<\/a>! pic.twitter.com\/tgUQl3y3xQ<\/a><\/p>\n
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 3, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n