Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo beats Thiago Monteiro 4:6, 6:3, 7:6 to win Szczecin Open

Breaking the thirty-year streak

Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo defeated Brazil's Thiago Monteiro on Sunday to claim the Invest in Szczecin Open singles title, ending a thirty-two-edition drought for Spanish players at the tournament. Prior to Sunday, eight different Spanish competitors had reached ten finals on the clay courts at Aleja Wojska Polskiego without capturing a trophy. Alberto Martin fell in the 2000 and 2005 finals, while David Sanchez lost in 2002 and 2004. Other unsuccessful Spanish finalists included Albert Portas, Albert Montanes, Inigo Cervantes, Pere Riba, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 2018, and Pablo Llamas Ruiz in 2025. Sanchez Izquierdo entered the match as the ninth Spanish finalist, securing victory on Spain's eleventh attempt.

Three-set final battle

The championship match was briefly delayed by morning rain before starting shortly after noon on the damp clay courts. Monteiro seized momentum early by breaking serve in the third game, using heavy groundstrokes to push Sanchez Izquierdo into deep defense and taking the opening set 6:4. Sanchez Izquierdo responded in the second set, racing to a 3:0 advantage and capitalizing on Monteiro's broken racket string at a critical moment to level the match 6:3. The third set extended past three hours as Sanchez Izquierdo established a two-game lead and held multiple match points before Monteiro recovered to force a tie-break. Tied at 6-6 in the tie-break, Monteiro committed two consecutive errors, hitting a forehand wide and sending a baseline drive long to conclude the 4:6, 6:3, 7:6 (8-6) contest.

I am happy and proud that I won the tournament here, especially knowing which Spaniards played here before me and did not manage to achieve this.

Paths through the tournament draw

Entering the tournament ranked 233rd in the ATP singles rankings, Sanchez Izquierdo navigated the draw without dropping a single set across four rounds, losing only 18 games before the final. His path included victories over Dali Blanch, Daniel Elahi Galan, Zdenek Kolar, and Luka Mikrut. Monteiro, a former world number 61 ranked 49 places behind Sanchez Izquierdo, had a more taxing route that included a three-hour and ten-minute quarter-final against Diego Dedura and a three-set semi-final win against Marco Trungelliti. Following his semi-final victory, Sanchez Izquierdo spoke about targeting the title.

I hope that I will be the first Spanish winner in the history of the tournament.

Tournament payouts and Polish performances

The 33rd edition of the Szczecin tournament, its 30th within the ATP Challenger structure, featured an overall prize purse of 225,000 dollars. Sanchez Izquierdo collected 28,400 dollars (approximately 107,000 Polish zloty) and 125 ATP ranking points, an outcome set to move him toward 150th in the global rankings on Monday. In the doubles competition concluded on Saturday, Andrew Paulson and Tiago Pereira secured the title and 125 ranking points. Local attention also followed Polish qualifier Filip Pieczonka, who advanced through qualifying without dropping a set, defeated Tiago Pereira in the first round, and pushed second seed Marco Trungelliti to three sets before losing 6:7(3), 7:5, 6:4 in the second round.