Hua Hin: Japan's Yuichi Sugita won the singles title at the ATP Challenger EA Hua Hin Open after beating French qualifier Stephane Robert in a marathon final last night.
Sugita survived a mid-match collapse to secure the title with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory, spending nearly two hours on the court at Hua Hin Centennial Club.
Robert staged a mini-comeback in the third set after falling 4-1 behind to make it 4-3 but Sugita regained his momentum to win the next two games with a break of serve in the decisive ninth game to take the set and the match.
Sugita had ended the run of giant-killing Estonian Jurgen Zopp to reach the final, while Robert had upset Japan's Tatsuma Ito in the other semi-final on Saturday.
In the doubles event, Lee Hsin-han and Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan won by a walkover against the pair of Andre Begemann of Germany and Purav Raja of India. Raja pulled out at the last minute to attend his father's funeral.
Meanwhile, the main draw battles of the women's WTA 125K series EA Hua Hin Championship start today at the same venue.
Thailand's Kamonwan Buayam has a tough opener against fourth seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan while fellow wildcard recipient Bunyawi Thamchaiwat also has a difficult assignment against Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan in the first round.
Luksika Kumkhum has been drawn against Belgian eighth seed Kirsten Flipkens in the first round while Varatchaya Wongtienchai will face China's Han Xinyun and 2015 SEA Games singles gold medallist Noppawan Lertchewakarn will meet a qualifier.
Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Peangtarn Plipuech face Nao Hibino of Japan and Emily Webley-Smith of Britain in the doubles event.
Nudnida Luangnam failed to reach the main draw after losing to Japan's Shuko Aoyama 5-7, 6-1, 4-6 in the final qualifying round yesterday.