A total of six ATP Challenger Tour events were held during the second week of the US Open. So many brilliant storylines followed – Roberto Carballes Baena continued his dominance over the event in Seville, while Richard Gasquet became the third-oldest Challenger champion ever. Francesco Passaro saved match points in two rounds on the way to the final only to claim a huge title in Genoa, while Damir Dzumhur picked up his fifth trophy of the season. Here’s a look back at last week’s action.
Challenger Tour weekly recap
Genoa
Jaume Munar has to be perceived as one of the favorites anytime we’re talking about a clay Challenger, but his run in Genoa was pretty remarkable. In the opening round, Moez Echargui injured himself while chasing down the Spaniard’s dropshot 6-1 4-4 AD-40 up and was forced to retire. Kei Nishikori was crushing Munar with his smooth ball-striking until 6-2 4-0 up when the errors crept in and the 27-year-old started believing he could win. That wasn’t the third seed’s problem though as he made his second final of the season (Aix-en-Provence).
After a superb couple of weeks in May (qualified and made the third round at Rome ATP 1000 and won the Turin Challenger 175), Francesco Passaro quickly returned to being up and down again. His Genoa run was almost over in the first round too as he saved two match points against Federico Arnaboldi, his compatriot letting a lob return go thinking it was going to be out on one of them. It wasn’t the last comeback Passaro pulled off this week with him also saving two match points against Thiago Monteiro.
The final was moved to Monday due to heavy rain in Genoa. Passaro came out firing and really trusting his forehand, but it was up to him to show he could maintain it long enough. He didn’t even face a break point until 7-5 3-1 and in that key moment, he once again stood strong with more quick aggression behind his serve. Passaro claimed his third Challenger Tour title 7-5 6-3 and is once again nearing a Top 100 debut. Both finalists are scheduled to appear in Szczecin right after Genoa, but it remains to be seen if either changes his mind due to the shorter turnaround.
Seville
Roberto Carballes Baena is always bringing it in Seville with a final appearance in 2021 and then back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. This year the event changed their courts from the legendary yellow clay to classic red, but it didn’t stop the Spaniard from performing great. Oriol Roca Batalla took him to a deciding set in the quarterfinals and was the only one to do so as Carballes Baena defeated Calvin Hemery in a rematch for last year’s final.
Daniel Altmaier arrived in Seville with a streak of seven losses in a row, although only one of them came at the Challenger level and the last three matches were contested on hard courts. The German had to bring it early and was playing a lot of tie-breaks for a clay court event (5-1 on the way to the final), but it was only Alexander Ritschard who pushed him to a decider as the two were engaged in a three tie-break contest than went on for over three hours.
Carballes Baena is the king of Seville, but it wasn’t always easy for him to handle Altmaier’s style with a more dynamic ball and varied defense. But when it came to the crunch, once again the Spaniard showed a lot of his improvements from the last few years with how he’s developed his weaponry to enrich his grinding game. He didn’t shy away from big forehands down 3-4 15-4o in the second set and took his 13th Challenger Tour title 6-3 7-5 to become the first player to earn a Challenger three-peat since Andreas Haider-Maurer in Brasov in 2012-14. The champion opted to withdraw from Szczecin this week, while Altmaier is in the draw of that event.
Tulln
Lukas Neumayer’s ranking fell quite a bit during the 2024 season, but you can often count on the Austrian performing well at home. Last year he made the Salzburg final (lost to Sebastian Ofner) and even just two months before Tulln, he earned his first ATP Tour win in Kitzbuhel (defeated Ofner). In Tulln, the key win of his run came against Jerome Kym in the quarterfinals as he kept saving break points in clutch moments to eventually win 7-5 6-7(3) 6-4 and make his second Challenger Tour final.
Jan Choinski’s ranking also fell off quite a lot recently with the Brit entering US Open qualifying at #280 (was higher at the time of the cut-off). But he made the main draw with three wins (saving 3 match points against Maxime Cressy), took Roberto Carballes Baena to five sets, and flew back to Europe in time to make the Tulln final. It wasn’t an easy run either with top seed and defending champion Vit Kopriva in round one and a huge battle against Marvin Moller next (was briefly down a break in the decider).
Neumayer managed to keep it close for the first eight games, but the gas tank turned out to be pretty empty. Choinski broke his spirit with a massive forehand down the line on set point and the second set ran away from the Austrian extremely quickly. It wasn’t until 5-0 that he finally managed to get on the board but it was to no avail. Choinski claimed his third Challenger title 6-4 6-1 and jumps about 100 ranking spots in just two weeks. The champion picked up a special exempt spot for Szczecin, while Neumayer is part of Austria’s Davis Cup team in their tie against Turkiye.
Shanghai
Yu-Hsiou Hsu got one of the toughest opening draws in the event with Jinan champion Yibing Wu. It was actually the Chinese that was leading 7-6 3-3 when he was forced to retire with a right leg issue. Hsu kept going and received another retirement from Yosuke Watanuki, who was returning from a long battle with injury (but this one was deep into the third set). This allowed Hsu to open up though and he hit his best stuff while beating Kris van Wyk and Norbert Gombos, making his first Challenger Tour final since November 2022.
After not getting much traction in the first half of the season, Sho Shimabukuro finished runner-up at the Winnipeg Challenger in July and kept that momentum going as he began his Asian swing. He was able to post impressive wins over No. 2 seed Terence Atmane and No. 4 seed Coleman Wong on the way to another final and didn’t even drop a set along the way with only the aforementioned Wong being able to force him into playing one tie-breaker.
The final was a festival of ball-striking talent with both players trying to take their shots very early. Shimabukuro has the less risky game and with great serving, he was able to punish Hsu for starting both sets with a weak game on his delivery. The Japanese claimed his third Challenger title 6-4 6-4 and will be back inside the Top 200. He will continue the Asian swing in Guangzhou now, while Hsu will feature in Taiwan’s Davis Cup match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Cassis
After making the semifinals in Madrid in April, Jurij Rodionov went on a horrible run that at one point had him losing 13 of his last 14 matches. US Open qualifying was a bit of a return to form (made third round) and the Austrian was able to finally get something going in Cassis. Once he found some rhythm he was actually very dangerous, beating top-seeded Constant Lestienne and only dropping one set on the way to the final (to Henrique Rocha in the final four).
Richard Gasquet won his maiden Challenger title at the age of 16 in Montabaun in 2002 and over 22 years later, he earned himself another opportunity for his 10th trophy at this level (after losing finals in San Benedetto and Manama across the past year or so). Despite not making a single semifinal since his run in Bahrain in February, the veteran delivered this time and only dropped one set on the way to the final (to Titouan Droguet), beating the surprise package of the event Adria Soriano Barrera on Saturday.
The final was stopped a few times due to rain and after the first delay at 3-2, Gasquet came back looking pretty slow and constantly forced to defend by Rodionov. It was such an impressive reaction from the veteran who really reclaimed the attacking role and it was him in control 3-2 40-0 in the decider when they postponed the rest of the match to Monday. Gasquet claimed his 10th Challenger title 3-6 6-1 6-2 and became the third oldest Challenger champion after Ivo Karlovic (39 years 7 months) and Fernando Verdasco (38 years 3 months). He opted to withdraw from Rennes, while Rodionov will feature in Austria’s Davis Cup match against Turkiye.
Istanbul
Damir Dzumhur won his first hard-court Challenger title in Istanbul in 2023 and arriving at the venue again as a 4-time champion in 2024, had to be considered one of the favorites. His second-round match against Dino Prizmic was far easier than their 2023 quarterfinal clash, but it wasn’t all bed of roses for the Bosnian. Jesper de Jong had three match points to take him out in the final four, eventually going down 6-2 5-7 6-7(7).
Hamad Medjedovic’s 2024 campaign was supposed to be something incredible after he won the Next Gen Finals in December, but it never really materialized as an illness suffered in the first few months of the season stopped him in his tracks completely. The Serbian is restoring some form though and after qualifying for the US Open, he produced a dominant run to his first final of the year in Istanbul. Only Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez was able to break him once in the opening round.
Dzumhur was the first player who made Medjedovic uncomfortable in Istanbul and the reaction from the Serbian was far from ideal. He was allowing his opponent to maneuver him around the court and his footwork wasn’t standing up to the challenge. Dzumhur eventually earned a pretty routine 6-4 6-2 win to claim his fifth Challenger title of the season (two ahead of Hugo Dellien, Lloyd Harris, Jozef Kovalik, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and Valentin Vacherot). He will now fly to Asia for the Davis Cup tie against Taiwan, while Medjedovic is nominated for Serbia against Greece.
Events held this week:
- Invest in Szczecin Open (Challenger 125, clay)
- Guangzhou Huangpu International Tennis Open (Challenger 100, hard)
- Open Blot Rennes (Challenger 100, indoor hard)
- Las Vegas Tennis Open (Challenger 75, hard)
- IZIDA Cup (Dobrich, Challenger 50, clay)
Top 100 players in action:
- Thiago Seyboth Wild, Federico Coria, Jaume Munar, Daniel Altmaier (Szczecin)
- Adrian Mannarino (Rennes)
- Christopher O’Connell, Luca Nardi (Shanghai)
First-round to watch:
Szczecin
- (1) Thiago Seyboth Wild vs Gabriel Debru
- Rudolf Molleker vs (6) Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Guangzhou
- (1) Christopher O’Connell vs Tristan Lamasine
- (6) Maxime Cressy vs Sho Shimabukuro
Rennes
- Benoit Paire vs (8) Jacob Fearnley
- Martin Damm vs (4) Quentin Halys
Las Vegas
- (1) Patrick Kypson vs Andres Martin
- Johannus Monday vs (2) Denis Kudla
Dobrich
- (1) Valentin Royer vs Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo
- Filip Jeff Planinsek vs David Jorda Sanchis
Main photo credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
