Teenage prodigy Joao Fonseca claimed his maiden Challenger title in Lexington with his 18th birthday coming later this month during US Open qualifying. Another first-time champion this week was Raphael Collignon in Luedenscheid, while more experienced competitors like Hugo Dellien and Alexandre Muller also claimed trophies. Denmark’s August Holmgren grabbed his 2nd Challenger title across his last three events, but this time at a more prestigious event. Read back on last week’s action:
Porto
Alejandro Moro Canas has been proving his surface versatility recently, especially when he qualified for Wimbledon. The Spaniard lost a bit of that momentum in July and was looking edgy in his first two matches in Porto. Grit is something the Spaniard doesn’t lack though and he kept fighting to turn these battles around, most notably when he saved three match points against Edas Butvilas in the second set tie-break. He then moved into his second Challenger final when Jaime Faria retired in the semifinals.
August Holmgren has been on fire recently, winning ten matches in a row to pick up an M25 title in Nottingham and then his maiden Challenger crown in Pozoblanco. The Dane got some space to rest with an early loss in Segovia and was back to his best in Porto. He took down the two Kazakh stars in Timofey Skatov and Mikhail Kukushkin on the way to the final with the latter match being quite an incredible show. Holmgren won 6-7(6) 7-5 7-6(5) in 3 hours and 10 minutes, saving one match point at 2-5 30-40 in the 3rd set.
Holmgren recovered well from the semifinal marathon and was executing his patterns with good efficiency again. The kick serve was pretty bouncy in the hot conditions and it allowed him to set up the inside-in forehand most of the time. Moro Canas fought well and even led 4-2 in the second set, but overall second-best as Holmgren claimed his 2nd Challenger title 7-6 7-6 and will find himself deep inside the Top 200. The Dane will now rest for a week before playing in Kozerki in two weeks, while Moro Canas probably won’t appear anywhere until the US Open qualifying.
San Marino
The bounce-back season from Chun-Hsin Tseng just keeps on giving as the Taiwanese made his fourth Challenger final of 2024. The week before San Marino he was also a lucky loser into the Umag ATP 250 draw, reaching the quarterfinals. At this event he didn’t really run into trouble until the semifinals with Francisco Comesana first going up a set, then being 2-0 up in the decider. Tseng held firm and started getting close to the Top 100 in the ATP Race by the time he made the final.
Alexandre Muller is back to being on the verge of the Top 100 but it feels like he is a little bit above the Challenger level anytime he shows up now (and that’s despite losing to Jesper de Jong in the opening round in Sassuolo the last time he played before San Marino). The Frenchman was in dominant form in San Marino, not dropping a set on the way to the final. Only Remy Bertola took him to a tie-break in the second set of their first-round clash.
It was a nice battle in the final as both players enjoy a similar rhythm off the ground, excelling especially in fast-paced baseline patterns. Muller’s stronger weight of shot led to him being the attacker in most rallies, but it’s not like Tseng wasn’t in his element using the opponent’s power. Eventually the Frenchman just kept coming despite blown leads and took the win, claiming his 3rd Challenger title 6-3 4-6 7-6. He is back in the Top 80 and will return to action in Cary in two weeks, while Tseng is also going to rest now but play Santo Domingo in that slot on the calendar.
Luedenscheid
Botic van de Zandschulp took the post-Wimbledon clay route after being on the verge of falling out of the Top 100, but earned plenty of points with his Braunschweig final run. In Zug just the week before Luedenscheid, he blew a 4-0 lead in the deciding set against Mika Brunold to go out in the opening round. But this time it was the Dutchman who was the comeback king, erasing 0-2 and 0-3 deficits in third sets against Gerard Campana Lee and Henri Squire, respectively.
Raphael Collignon only played one match after Wimbledon in 2023 and only started winning again at the beginning of this season after an injury hiatus. But now the Belgian is in truly incredible form and keeps rising the rankings. Having already picked up three ITF titles in five finals (all at the M25 level) and a Challenger semifinal in Lyon, it was time for him to make another huge run. Collignon posted impressive straight-set wins over Marco Trungelliti and Kamil Majchrzak to make his 2nd Challenger final (2023 Roseto Degli Abruzzi).
Van de Zandschulp’s forehand was the heaviest shot on court as he went up 6-3 2-0 and was also defending extremely well, getting Collignon to miss. That didn’t last long though. As the match got closer and the errors stopped coming, the favorite lost that trust in his shots. Gradually he started getting pushed back behind the baseline and it was Collignon who claimed his 1st Challenger title 3-6 6-4 6-3. He finds himself near the Top 200 with 0 points to defend until the end of 2024, which means he’s pretty much a lock for the Australian Open already. Van de Zandschulp hopes to get into Cincinnati qualifying soon, while Collignon will play the qualifying in Bonn.
Liberec
Hugo Dellien was back in great shape in July with a Challenger title in Iasi and kept that momentum going in Liberec. Top-seeded at the event, he managed to defeat four opponents in straight sets with only Dalibor Svrcina and Manuel Guinard getting him to opening set tie-breaks. Dellien was defending final points from Luedenscheid last year (lost to Duje Ajdukovic after having to play two matches in one day), this time choosing a different route and venturing to Liberec instead.
Elmer Moller made his maiden Challenger final in Augsburg in May, losing to Timofey Skatov. The Dane’s results got a bit more shaky after that run (particularly at the Challenger level), but he pretty much demolished his first three opponents in Liberec not dropping more than five games in a set. The semifinal ended up being much more of a thrill ride as in his second match that day, Moller defeated Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 7-6(6) in the 3rd set, saving 3 match points.
Moller’s ability to scramble for balls on the defense was giving Dellien plenty of trouble. He couldn’t quite put him away and the dropshots weren’t enough to wrap up points, so the Dane could easily turn points around. The physical edge built up on the previous day when Moller had to endure that long three-setter with Moreno de Alboran started increasing though. Dellien utilized it perfectly and claimed his 12th Challenger title 5-7 6-4 6-1. He will play in Bonn next while Moller is set to appear in an M25 in Muttenz in two weeks.
Lexington
It had been a while since Li Tu last made a huge impact at the Challenger level (only quarterfinal of the season came back in February) and things weren’t looking particularly bright for him in Lexington either when he lost the opening set to Taha Baadi in the first round. But that’s when the Australian suddenly found his best stuff again. The win over James Kent Trotter matched his Burnie result from the start of the year with Tu going on to defeat young talents Emilio Nava and Coleman Wong.
Joao Fonseca went out to Gabriel Diallo in the Chicago second round to kick off his North American hard court swing. The 17-year-old managed to avenge that defeat just a week later as he faced the same opponent in the Lexington quarterfinals. On the very same day, he also had to take down Hugo Grenier in the next round. Fonseca secured his spot in his second Challenger final (2024 Asuncion) and was also looking for his first professional title of any kind.
Tu pulled off a big upset to win his only Challenger title in Seoul 2022, turning on turbo mode and grinding down Yibing Wu with incredible athleticism and intensity. But Fonseca just didn’t give him that chance on Sunday. He was in control from the get-go and didn’t display any of the teenage inconsistency that can plague his game from time to time. The Brazilian picked up his 1st Challenger title 6-1 6-4, 17 days before turning 18. He will now rest a week before appearing in Cary just before US Open qualifying, while Tu tries to keep the momentum going in Lincoln.
Events held this week:
- Bonn Open (Challenger 75, clay)
- Directv Open Bogota (Challenger 75, clay)
- Serena Wines 1881 – Acqua Maniva Tennis Cup (Cordenons, Challenger 75, clay)
- Lincoln Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Thiago Agustin Tirante (Bogota)
- Daniel Evans (Lincoln)
First-round matches to watch:
Bonn
- Martin Landaluce vs (8) Rudolf Molleker
- (WC) Marko Topo vs (2) Maximilian Marterer
Bogota
- (1) Thiago Agustin Tirante vs Benjamin Lock
- (8) Juan Pablo Ficovich vs Matias Soto
Cordenons
- (8/WC) Federico Arnaboldi vs Matej Dodig
- Alexander Blockx vs (3) Daniel Rincon
Lincoln
- (3) Harold Mayot vs Mitchell Krueger
- Liam Broady vs (5) Bu Yunchaokete
Main Photo Credit: Imago Images Photo by Corinne Dubreuil
