Quito and Sofia titles to qualifiers

Three titles were given out on the ATP Tour at the weekend, and two of the winners would never have been talked of as possible victors.

In Quito, it was qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena, ranked 107 before the tournament, who prevailed, taking out three seeds in the process.

In the second round, it was fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi, in the quarter final eighth seed Nicolas Jarry and in the final second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

In the final, Roberto served down a storm in set one, as his fellow Spaniard was unable to find an answer - the young gun won 75% of points on his serve and 54% of points on his opponents serve.

6-3 and looking for the upset.

The more experienced Albert was up for the challenge and despite being out served and losing the battle on return of serve, he somehow saved all four break points he faced.

He squeezed out two break points of his own, one of which was converted, allowing the match to be squared.

The decider was on serve at 3-3, before Roberto stepped up and broke the second seed for a critical lead 4-3.

That was enough as serve was held for the rest of the final.

Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 4-6 6-4

He improved his ranking from 107 to 76, a career high.

From not winning a match on the ATP Tour for almost a year,to winning his first title is quite an accomplishment.

Not to be outdone, Mirza Basic has won the tournament in Sofia.

The qualifier from Bosnia-Herzegovina defeated Romanian Marius Copil in an exciting final 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-4

These two finalists were lowly ranked before the tournament - Basic 129 and Copil 93.

Basic defeated Kohlschreiber (4) in the second round and Wawrinka (1) in the semis.

The latest rankings have Basic jumping 52 spots to a career high of 77.

Copil has risen 19 places to 74, equaling his career high.

In the all French final in Montpellier, Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Richard Gasquet (5) 7-6(2) 6-4

Pouille did not face a break point in the entire match and after racing through the opening set tie break, converted one of three chances in the second set for a convincing victory.

A lucky semi final escape with Tsonga’s retirement but Pouille rode his luck to capture his second title on home soil, and fifth overall.