Rising Croatian teenage tennis star Mili Poljičak to jump 900 places up ATP rankings after reaching Zagreb Open Final
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
Rising teenage Croatian tennis star Mili Poljičak from Split has failed to win the Zagreb Open international tennis tournament after he went down in the final today in front of a full house at the Maksimir Tennis Center.
In the final, the Croatian was defeated by Austrian Filip Mišolić 6: 3, 7: 6, who made the main draw after success in qualifying.
Filip Mišolić and Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
Mili Poljičak is a 17-year-old who is currently at the top of the junior ATP rankings, and only two months ago he was the second-ranked junior in the world.
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
He is currently ranked 1472nd in the ATP rankings, and his successes in the Zagreb tournament will see him jump as many as 923 places and he should be ranked 550th in the new rankings.
He came to the Zagreb Open after receiving an invitation from the organisers.
In the first round he beat Chinese player Zhizhen Zhang, before comfortably beating Italian Federico Gaio, who is ranked 186th in the world and has experience of playing in the strongest tournaments like the Australian Open.
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
In the quarterfinals, Poljičak defeated Bosnian Mirzo Bašić, and in the semifinals, in less than two hours of play, he reached the final with a victory over Carlos Gimen Valero.
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
Poljičak won all four matches in straight sets.
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
The winners of the doubles tournament was Adam Pavlašek and Igor Zelenay, who beat Domagoj Bilješek and Andrei Chepelev in the final match (4: 6, 6: 3, 10: 2).
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
The ATP Challenger Zagreb Open is part of the Croatian Tennis Pro Tournaments series. This series is part of the initiative of the Croatian Tennis Association, which seeks to enable young Croatian tennis players to collect points and experience on home courts, all before the start of Roland Garros.
Mili Poljičak (Photo: Inga Ćužić / Zagreb Open)
The partners of the tournament were the Croatian Tennis Association, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the City of Zagreb.
