Loss to French world No 90 pushes Hongkonger’s record to 1-7 on the ATP’s second-tier circuit, his only win coming in Jiujiang, China in May

Hong Kong tennis star Coleman Wong Chak-lam settled for second best in yet another ATP Challenger final after losing 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 to France’s Térence Atmane at the Seoul Open on Sunday.

The defeat pushed Wong’s career ATP Challenger finals record to 1-7, with his only victory coming in Jiujiang in China in May, when he edged Adam Walton of Australia 7-5, 7-6 to become the first Hongkonger to ever win an ATP title.

Last weekend, Wong lost to Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate in the final of the ATP Challenger event in Guangzhou.

In Seoul, the two players were evenly matched in the first set, with both holding their service games. However, Atmane took over in the tiebreak, leading 4-1 before winning 7-3 to take the lead.

Hongkonger Wong managed a break early in the second to take a commanding 4-1 lead as he drew level with five aces.

It was yet another neck-to-neck showdown in the deciding set as there was no room for service breaks.

Ranked No 90, and just three places below Wong, Atmane was always in control during the second tiebreak of the match, but the 24-year-old from Saint-Martin-Boulogne needed his fifth match point to see off Wong’s challenge, taking his career maiden title with a win in two hours and four minutes.

At the Pan Pacific Open, Diana Shnaider added to her five career tour titles with a dominant victory over Leylah Fernandez.

Ranked No 13 in the world, Shnaider managed two breaks to go 5-2 at one point but Fernandez, who is bound for Hong Kong next, got one back to stay in the fight. Only for a couple more games, though, as four straight points from the Russian’s service game decided the set.

Shnaider was 4-0 up in the second, but just when the spectators at the Ariake Coliseum thought that was it, world No 23 Fernandez won seven of the next eight games to draw level.

The decider, however, was straightforward. The 22-year-old Shnaider did not give her Canadian opponent any chances again once she went 5-2 up, and won the third WTA 500 title of her career 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in Tokyo in two hours and 18 minutes.