FRENCH tennis star Adrian Mannarino says he hopes never to play another tournament in Jersey following yesterday’s Caversham ATP Men’s Challenger win – simply because his goal is to fight for mega-money titles alongside the best tennis players in the world.

The 20-year-old Mannarino will surely see his world ranking drop significantly from 136 following a stunning 7-6, 7-6 defeat of the supremely talented German player Andreas Beck at Les Ormes.

Some believe Mannarino, who showed a polished all-round game to confidently undercut his challenger in a thrilling two-hour epic, is well capable of reaching a world-ranking in the region of 70 or 80 by this time next year. The Frenchman said: ‘I hope I won’t have to come back to Jersey to play another tournament, because I want to move up the rankings now and play against better players in the bigger draws. I am not planning to return in March. But I do think Jersey is a very nice Island.’

Earlier, 17-year-old Polish tennis sensation Katarzyna Piter claimed the ITF women’s $10,000 tournament title over top seed Stefania Boffa in a two-set tie. Despite showing her strength in a great run of games last week Swiss player Boffa failed to find her form in the final, and was swiftly overcome by a focused Piter in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.