Edinburgh tennis star Jacob Fearnley will soar to No 129 on the ATP world rankings list today (Monday) after winning his third ATP Challenger title by defeating Quentin Halys 0-6, 7-6, 6-3 in Rennes.
It is a meteoric rise by the former Buckstone Primary and Merchiston Castle pupil who, on leaving his US College – Texas Christian University – in June, aged 22, ranked 525 in the world.
Along the way Jacob has compiled a record of 30 wins and just six defeats including against Novak Djokovic from whom he extracted a set.
On his latest sojourn he beat five successive French opponents who were backed by home galleries including top seed Adrian Mannerino who provided his first world top 50 scalp.
In the final Jacob lived dangerously in saving two match points then threatened to wobble before taking the title and a five figure Euro prize on his SEVENTH match point. However, his concentration and exemplary ground-strokes held firm.
Normally the epitome of composure the tension did appear to get to Jacob at the end though as he sank to his knees with head-in-hands.
Perhaps, though, what contributed in some way to this latest success was encouragement and support received during the week from veteran Great Britain Davis Cupper Dan Evans who pinpointed Jacob as a particular GB player to watch.
