Parker targets world's top 300 after maiden ATP Challenger Tour win

Jersey tennis player Stuart Parker won an ATP Challenger Tour event in Thailand Picture: ROB CURRIE

STUART PARKER said that winning his first ATP Challenger Tour event felt ‘surreal’, as he targets the top 300 of the world rankings.

The 25-year-old Islander won the Nonthaburi 3 Challenger in Thailand after his opponent, Arthur Cazaux of France, retired in the final citing an ankle injury.

Parker was well on his way to winning the match, leading 6-4, 4-1 at the time.

The win propelled him up the world rankings by 113 places to a career high 351.

Now he hopes he will get the opportunity to compete in more Challenger events with a view to breaking into the top 300 by the end of the year.

‘I want to be playing the Challenger regularly and do a full tour,’ he said.

‘It’s nice to break the 400 barrier and now I want to finish the year strong and put myself in contention for Grand Slam qualifiers.

‘Winning this was incredible. I didn’t believe I would achieve it this year. Results have been pretty average lately but I put together a good week.’

Entering the tournament as a qualifier, Parker beat Israel’s number one tennis player Yshai Oliel in the second round before toppling fourth seeded Brit Billy Harris in straight sets in the quarter-finals. He then got the better of Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro in the semi-finals.

Parker applied the pressure in the final and took the first four games of the second set. Cazaux held serve to pull a game back but, having rolled his ankle in the process, he felt he could no longer continue.

‘I didn’t want to take the title like that but I was on my way to taking it anyway, 100%,’ said Parker. ‘I felt confident and I was playing some good stuff.

‘I had struggled with the conditions at the start of the week but just took every match as it came and I believed I could beat all of them.

‘It’s still surreal to say I’ve won a Challenger. I remember being a ball boy at a Challenger in Jersey when I was about nine or ten year old. I never would have thought then that I would go on to win one myself.’

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