Arsene Pougault won the 2024 Stockton Cup singles championship over Kim Niethammer 7-6, 6-2 on Monday.
It was a tightly-contested first set in the final as both players had their moments to shine, striking aggressive groundstrokes. Both grinded out points and had their opportunities, but it took a first-set tiebreak to settle the set. Pougault gained an upper-hand in the breaker with solid shot making, and closed out the set winning the tiebreak at 7-4.
At the beginning of the second set it was more of the same but, midway through the set, play began to swing to Pougault. He capitalized on some errors from Niethammer, breaking serve then gained the momentum in the set. He was able to close out the second set, and the match.
It was an impressive run by the Frenchman, who is a freshman at Charlotte. After a first-round bye, Pougault would only drop 5 games in his next two matches. Then he defeated a strong opponent in Jared Hiltzik, 7-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. He would go on to win a tough battle in the semifinals against Frederic Schlossmann to set up his final appearance. His consistency served him well during his run to the championship.
Pougault becomes Stockton Cup's third different champion, and it's first from France.
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