Challenger Finals Focus Week 43: Bratislava, Taipei, Taranto, Charlottesville, Costa do Sauipe

Last week's Challenger action saw lots of drama and tense third set tiebreaks in three of the finals that took place. This week is a complete contrast with four of the five Challenger finals being decided in straight sets. Nevertheless, some great stories were still told.

Taipei Challenger Final: Yosuke Watanuki [Q] defeats Jan Kumstat 7-6, 7-5

The first winner of the day came in Taipei as the qualifier Yosuke Watanuki played an excellent final to outplay the big-serving Czech Jan Kumstat. The biggest difference for Kumstat in comparison to his previous rounds was that he was being asked for a lot of consistency out of his forehand wing. This final was a lot more about what he could conjure up from the ground. He looked way more exposed as a result.

Watanuki's ability to hit effective short returns that made the Czech uncomfortable but also make aggressive returns happen with a lot of frequency was something Jan was not quite ready for. From the first set tiebreak onwards, Kumstat's forehand essentially falls to pieces and the confidence was not fully regained after that. The Japanese qualifier got the first hit in the point a lot more, while also taking care of serve/return dynamic at a higher level.

This marks a sixth Challenger title victory for Watanuki. A memorable week in which he knocked out the No.3 seed Lloyd Harris, No.6 seed Alexandre Muller and the No.1 seed Coleman Wong in the semi-finals.

Taranto Challenger final: Matteo Martineau beats Kilian Feldbausch 6-3, 6-2 to win his maiden Challenger title

Matteo Martineau's Challenger life has been one of near-misses and he was going into this Taranto final having lost all of his previous five finals at this level. Some closer than others. I always felt this field was one of opportunity for several players though. Martineau was definitely one of them.

The final began with tension from both players, but the difference was that Martineau managed to spring out of that mode after four-five games. When he dominated Felix Gill in the semi-final it was mostly because of the impressive level of his serving. The final was more about capitalising on the territory handed to him by his opponent.

Kilian Feldbausch often loves to play aggressively, but in a gradual and structured way. The disadvantages of his approach is if an opponent prevents him from getting towards that destination. Martineau did that by making the first heavy blow immediately. Martineau went with effective drop shots, smart net play or simply just by capitalising on the time he had to make his forehand the dominant shot. The Swiss never adjusted to this and subsequently Martineau ran away with the title.

Charlottesville Challenger Final: Stefan Kozlov comes back from a break down in the third set to beat Aidan Mayo 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(3)

The first two sets felt like a typical Kozlov-style match with lots of craftiness, endless defusing of pace and pushing Mayo into the most physically and mentally- exhausting rallies. Even to a point that the points won at net were taking a lot for Mayo to deliver on

But to Mayo's credit, he accepted the challenge. Kozlov was the first player to drop physically in this decider and then suddenly Mayo was punching more holes with his forehand and dominating the fight for control of the baseline completely. Kozlov was barely defending at this stage and hardly had the energy to commit to the same consistency of net approach volume either.

Mayo looked like he was going to charge to the title, but got incredibly tight when serving for the match. He committed two wayward forehand misses and Kozlov found more energy with his pathway back into the match. A final that felt lost by Mayo in the most brutal fashion, as he was so close to his second title of the season.

In the last two Challenger finals of this week, Jurij Rodionov won his first Challenger title of the season after beating Jerome Kym with the loss of just three games in the Bratislava 2 Challenger final. Rodionov had lost six of his last seven Challenger finals, four of them this year before getting in the winners circle again here.

Lastly, Ugo Carabelli claimed the title in Costa do Sauipe as he beat No.4 seed Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2, 7-5. Seyboth had won 19 of his last 20 matches before losing this final. Unfortunately, he does not enjoy the Carabelli matchup. He has a losing head-to-head of 2-5 versus the Argentinian. Carabelli has now won all of their last five meetings, all coming on clay. His comfortability with Seyboth Wild's weight of ball was apparent in this title win too.