18-year-old Darwin Blanch made a significant splash in Northern California on Sunday, completing his run to the title at the Tiburon Challenger and becoming the youngest American to ever win a 125K men’s singles title.
Blanch’s run, which featured five match point saves in his opening-round win over Stefan Kozlov, also featured a semifinal win over fellow American prospect Michael Zheng in two tight tiebreaks, 7-6(5), 7-6(9).
Blanch completed his run with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Michael Mmoh on Sunday.
He makes his Top 200 debut at No. 166 on Monday and moves up to No. 6 in the ATP’s race to the Next Gen Finals.
Blanch, who won his first ATP Masters 1000 match at Miami this year, is 1-4 on the season at tour level. He lost to Taylor Fritz in the first round at the US Open, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The 6’4” southpaw had lost eight consecutive matches across all levels heading into Tiburon.
This year at the Slams, Blanch reached the final round of qualifying at Roland Garros and the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon.
Blanch was outside of the Top 800 last February and started this season outside of the Top 200.
He has lived all over the globe and only recently settled in Florida, where he trains at the USTA’s facilities in Orlando.
“I lived for eight years in Thailand, until I was eight, because of my dad’s job—his work,” he said this year at Roland Garros. “Then I went to Argentina. I was also in Spain for a bit, but now I’m based at the USTA in Orlando. I’m in the United States with my coaches from Argentina, and we’re training at the USTA in Orlando.”
Blanch started working with Juan Ignacio Chela, a former World No. 15, last November.
“I felt like I needed something new—something bigger,” he said in Paris this spring. “I was talking to my agent, and he was talking to Chela. Chela was interested in coaching me, so we started at the end of November.
“I feel like things are going amazingly. I have a great relationship with him, and we work super well together. He used to be a professional player, of course, and he was in the Top 20. I feel like I really needed someone who used to play at that high of a level.”
Blanch says the relationship goes deeper than tennis.
“I feel like he’s a very funny, really chill guy, and that’s something I really needed,” he said.
“Obviously, different players need different things. I feel like I needed someone who could relax my mind a little bit and be funny and joke around—while obviously being serious in serious situations.
“I feel like I really needed that because that’s definitely who I am as a human being as well. That’s a big reason why we have such a great relationship.”
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