Aidan McHugh's ITF win in Dominican Republic is the biggest of his career

The 20-year-old captured the M25 Santo Domingo tournament in the Dominican Republic by completing a 7-5 3-6 6-3 victory over Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker.

The match lasted over three and a half hours across two days, McHugh finishing the job on Monday after rain stopped play on the Sunday with the Scot a set ahead and a break up at 2-0 in the second set.

McHugh’s previous ITF title win came in the M15 Singapore in 2019.

McHugh, seeded eight, dropped just one set on his way to the final.

He opened with a first round 7-6 6-2 win over Peru’s Conner Huertas Del Pino and then saw off another Peruvian opponent, Jorge Brian Panta, 6-1 6-4 in the second round.

Kyle Seelig of the USA was beaten 6-4 6-2 in the quarter-finals and another American, Roy Smith, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semi-finals.

In the final McHugh was up against Kicker, his doubles partner in last month’s M25 in Pensacola, Florida, where the pair reached the final.

The first set saw the players trading breaks and Kicker served for the set at 5-3. But McHugh broke back and the broke again before serving out to win the set 7-5.

An early break put McHugh 2-0 up in the second set, but rain then stopped play and the match was abandoned for the day.

On Monday’s resumption Kicker hit back to take the set 6-3 but McHugh rallied to take the third set 6-3 and the title.