The native of Rocourt, 109th in the world and seeded N.4, beat Frenchman Harold Mayot, 125th in the world, in two sets 6-4 and 6-2 after 1h21 of play.
He is the second Belgian to win this tournament after Zizou Bergs, winner in 2022. The Australian Jason Kubler won the 2023 edition.
Goffin was playing his 11th final on the Challenger circuit and added a 9th title to his record, the first on grass and the first since his victory in the first edition of the BW Open in Louvain-la-Neuve in January 2023.
The former world No.7 also has 6 titles on the ATP circuit, the last one was won at the ATP 250 in Marrakech in 2022. He has played a total of 15 finals and among them the Masters in 2017 and the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati in 2019.
Goffin was playing his second tournament of the season on grass. He was eliminated in the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Rosmalen by the Italian Luca Nardi 7-5, 7-5.
The Liégeois will make his return to the ATP top 100 around 93rd place thanks to his victory on Saturday.
David Goffin, 33, will now play the qualifiers for the Wimbledon tournament, the third round of the Grand Slam, where he hopes to play the 10th Championships of his career. He will have to go through three rounds to reach the final table. They start on Monday in London. The qualifying draw will be made on Sunday. Goffin has twice reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2022.
Goffin in the Top 100 before the Wimbledon qualifiers: “A lot more confidence”
David Goffin (ATP 109) killed two birds with one stone by winning the Challenger 125 tournament on grass in Ilkley on Saturday, his first title since his victory at the BW Open in Louvain-la-Neuve in January 2023. The Liégeois, 33 years old, will at the same time re-enter the ATP Top 100, at 82nd place.
“It’s simply the consequence of the level of play that I display,” he confided. “I am not focusing on the ranking, but on the work to be done to be as efficient as possible during each match. This is what I have been working on for several months and I am happy to see that it is already having an effect its fruits. It was hard to come out of the Top 100, mentally, for the confidence you start to have and you have to hang on. Fortunately, I was able to count on the support of my family. back.”
This title also comes at the right time for David Goffin as he will have to begin qualifying for Wimbledon from Monday, the third round of the Grand Slam on the calendar, which he hopes to play for the 10th time in his career.
“I had five difficult matches, but the level of play was there and that gives me a lot of confidence for Wimbledon and for the rest of my season,” he continued. “This title means a lot. It’s been a long time since I won a tournament. So it’s nice, but above all I played very well. And that’s the most important thing.”
