KINGSTON, Jamaica – Hot on the heels of a respectable second-round finish at the recently concluded French major, Roland Garros, German-born Jamaican tennis player Dustin ‘Dreddy’ Brown bagged his seventh ATP Challenger Tour title at the Aegon Manchester Challenger, today.

The flamboyant six-footer, who was ousted from the slam 3-6, 6-7, 2-6 by American Jack Sock, confidently served his way to the Manchester title with a 7-6, 6-1 defeat of fourt-seed Yen-Hsun Lu.

The 116th-ranked Brown also dispatched the second seed, American Rajeev Ram, in a close 7-6, 7-6 battle in the first round on his way to claiming the title, which was played on his preferred surface – grass.

In the past few years, Brown has produced stunning performances on the surface. At Wimbledon, he has recorded impressive results by reaching the third round on two occasions in the last three years. On one such outing, he shocked former world number one and 14-time slam winner Rafael Nadal, who the German dispatched 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the All England Club tourney last year.

Brown, again, put on an expert show on the green, winning all four tie-breaks he played at the Challenger.

The dreadlock-wearing German wowed with his now-expected trick shot tweeners, which quickly went viral, to the delight of the patrons.

“A lot of it (the entertainment) is how I am and how I learned to play tennis. Its intuition and when the balls go in, everyone’s happy.  If I make it, everyone says ‘great’. If I hit the house behind the court, everyone says ‘what an idiot, how can he do that at 2/2 in the tie-break?’,” Brown told www.atpworldtour.com. 

The Aegon Manchester Challenger awards over 6,000 euros and 80 points to the winner.

Gorgette Beckford