Learner Tien and the usual suspect for such stats, Bernard Tomic, produced the shortest completed Challenger final ever at 39 minutes in Fairfield (4 minutes shorter than the previous record, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beating Dudi Sela at 2019 Cassis). Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez grabbed a wildcard to play the Challenger 125 in Valencia and won it without dropping a set. He wasn’t the only high-profile story on the circuit this week with James Duckworth surviving a match point in the opening round to win Hangzhou or Camilo Ugo Carabelli denying Jesper de Jong his Top 100 debut in Villa Maria. Read up on last week’s action:
Hangzhou
After some great results in the first half of the year, James Duckworth was able to move away from the Challenger Tour in June and didn’t play another event at this level until Hangzhou. The Australian was granted an extremely tricky opening draw against Yasutaka Uchiyama, who made the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event at this venue just a few weeks later. Duckworth saved a match point with a dropshot at 4-5 in the 3rd and that turned out to be the only match he didn’t win in straights on the way to the final.
Mackenzie McDonald had to skip Shanghai qualifying after suffering from heat-related physical issues in the Nonthaburi final loss to Tung-lin Wu. But the level was clearly there and the American showed up in Hangzhou in crushing form. The first three matches only had him lose ten games, including a 6-0 6-1 defeat of Billy Harris and a 6-2 6-1 routing of Rinky Hijikata. Gabriel Diallo pushed him much closer than in their recent Nonthaburi quarterfinal, but McDonald saved four set points to still prevail in straights.
The 6-2 scoreline for McDonald in the opening set was a little misleading with Duckworth going 0/5 on break points, but it still put the Australian under pressure. The veteran started racing through his service games though, cracked a few huge forehands in the second set tie-break, and turned on grinder to mode to finally break with an awesome passing shot in the decider. Duckworth claimed his 15th Challenger title (3rd-most among active players) 2-6 7-6 6-4 and will now feature in the ATP 250 in Almaty, while McDonald keeps competing in the Asian Challenger swing.
Valencia
Pedro Martinez was the fifth Top 50 player to grab a wildcard for a Challenger 125 event this year with only Luciano Darderi (Perugia champion) and Borna Coric (Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve runner-up) being able to make the final. The top seed had to be ready to battle right away and miraculously didn’t need to go three sets with Emilio Nava. That fighting attitude remained with him during the week as every opponent would challenge him, but not quite do enough to take a set on the way to the final.
Jaime Faria suffered a couple of disappointing exits in his home country just before Valencia, so not much was suggesting he would suddenly go on a run. It definitely took him a while to unlock his confidence, but the 21-year-old kept winning thrillers against the likes of Ivan Gakhov (7-6 in the 3rd), Braga champion Elmer Moller (was a set and a break down), before prevailing in a huge physical battle over Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, saving two match points in quick rallies on his serve. Faria made his 2nd Challenger final (Oeiras).
After such tough ordeals in the previous matches, it wasn’t clear how Faria is supposed to recover for the final. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened as Martinez was on a bit of a victory lap, completely unlike his previous performances over the week. The Portuguese started prolonging the match from 1-6 1-5 and gave a very nice effort in these last few games, but Martinez still claimed his 7th Challenger title 6-1 6-3. Both finalists will have a tough transition now as the Spaniard intends to play the ATP 250 in Stockholm (indoor hard), while Faria wants to travel to South America and compete in Campinas.
Roanne
Benjamin Bonzi had some brilliant patches of play this year where he was already recovering Top 100 quality, before once again falling into poor streaks. His form was once again getting better with two quarterfinals prior to Roanne and the Frenchman took it to the next level here. He posted three impressive indoor wins over compatriots in Clement Chidekh, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Luca Van Assche, only dropping one set in a dramatic 11-13 opening tie-break vs Herbert.
Matteo Martineau‘s form fell off a cliff in the summer after a great start to the season saw him reach back-to-back finals in Nottingham and Cherbourg. The return of the French indoor season provided him with a nice opportunity to recover, although he was unlucky with his draws in Orleans and Mouilleron-le-Captif (Mark Lajal and Quentin Halys, respectively). Everything changed in Roanne with Martineau impressing in his win over Jerome Kym and surviving battles against compatriots Constant Lestienne and Hugo Grenier.
Martineau was trying to break up Bonzi’s rhythm with the slice and force him into errors, but at least on return he struggled to get anything going. On serve he was also the one consistently under pressure and while he kept finding incredible set point saves with great touch shots, he eventually succumbed to his opponent’s 8th opportunity. After that the match kinda spiraled out of control with Bonzi claiming his 10th Challenger title 7-5 6-1, not facing a break point in the final. Martineau is now 0-3 in finals at this level (all indoors this year) as both players will play Saint-Brieuc next.
Fairfield
Learner Tien‘s incredible consistency in this year’s American Challengers continues. In nine events the 18-year-old is yet to lose prior to the quarterfinals and despite going 1-6 1-3 down to Patrick Kypson in the 3rd match here, he once again managed to figure it out and bring his opponent down. Against Brandon Holt, it was almost the opposite story as Tien led 6-0 5-3 before having to dig himself out of a 0-40 hole in a key game in the deciding set. But as usual, he kept on winning to make his 3rd Challenger final.
Bernard Tomic has been trying to return to Grand Slam qualifying for the past year or so, continuously coming close but not enough to make the cut. His first final since 2018 will help him in that quest as the Australian kept surviving tough matches in the windy conditions in Fairfield thanks to his tricky backhand slice. He saved two match points against Alexis Galarneau in the quarterfinals before inflicting a heavy defeat upon his compatriot Tristan Schoolkate to make the final.
But by Sunday, it just seemed like Tomic had absolutely nothing left to give. Only he will know if it was more mental or physical, maybe both. Toilet break after a 0-6 opening set seemed to have helped at least briefly, but the Australian still had no idea how to even tackle his opponent on the day. Tien claimed his 3rd Challenger title 6-0 6-1 in just 39 minutes, making this the shortest ever completed Challenger final. He moves to career-high World No. 124 in the ATP Rankings and will take a week off before Sioux Falls now, while Tomic plays Calgary next.
Villa Maria
Camilo Ugo Carabelli made four Challenger finals from the start of the year to the beginning of July, but then went a bit more quiet with more ATP Tour events mixed into his schedule. Back in South America, he started posting wins again in Antofagasta and Buenos Aires before the explosion in Villa Maria. On the way to the final, he dropped just one set to Adolfo Daniel Vallejo and impressed by demolishing 3-time Challenger champion of 2024 Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
Traveling to South America was a great scheduling choice for Jesper de Jong, who isn’t defending any points until the end of the year. The Dutchman made the semifinals in Antofagasta and the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires, before avenging the latter loss to Hugo Dellien at the same stage in Villa Maria. The Bolivian was the only opponent to take a set off him in the first four matches with de Jong producing a streak of forehand winners to break at 4-all in the decider. Winning the title would mean a Top 100 debut for the 24-year-old.
Ugo Carabelli was surprisingly the one dictating more in the opening set, hitting his forehand with lots of confidence. While de Jong got to a couple of set points, it was clear that this was not the winning recipe. He quickly showed why, getting on top early in the second set. What he’ll be disappointed with is the quick 0-4 deficit in the decider he just couldn’t get back (including a drive volley miss on a break point in the last game). His Top 100 debut will have to wait as Ugo Carabelli claimed his 7th Challenger title 7-6 3-6 6-4 and will play Campinas next, while de Jong returns to Europe and hopes to make either Basel or Vienna qualifying.
Challenger Tour magic:
Both players go behind-the-back in this cat-and-mouse point!
📷: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/f8DAksMmv6— Damian Kust (@damiankust) October 11, 2024
I certainly recommend watching these back-to-back points from Quan though! He’s like Tien’s righty cousin.
📷 : @ATPChallenger https://t.co/HXbytfFsMg pic.twitter.com/fzh9Vg5XtH— Damian Kust (@damiankust) October 10, 2024
Events held this week:
- Olbia Challenger (Challenger 125, hard)
- Campeonato Internacional de Tenis, Presented by Santander (Campinas, Challenger 100, clay)
- Shenzhen Longhua Open (Challenger 100, hard)
- Calgary National Bank Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
- Open Saint-Brieuc Armor Agglomeration (Challenger 75, indoor hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Luca Nardi (Olbia)
- Federico Coria (Campinas)
- Arthur Cazaux, Adam Walton (Shenzhen)
First-round matches to watch:
Olbia
- (3) Harold Mayot vs Martin Landaluce
- Mili Poljicak vs (4) Duje Ajdukovic
Campinas
- Tomas Barrios Vera vs (8) Felipe Meligeni Alves
- Jaime Faria vs (3) Hugo Dellien
Shenzhen
- Yan Bai vs (6) Yu-hsiou Hsu
- Jie Cui vs (2) Adam Walton
Calgary
- Borna Gojo vs (8) James Trotter
- Qualifier vs (WC) Vasek Pospisil
Saint-Brieuc
- (1) Lucas Pouille vs (ALT) Ricardas Berankis
- Dino Prizmic vs (4) Benjamin Bonzi
Berankis is 13-1 in Saint-Brieuc, winning the title in 2018 and 2023.
Main Photo Credit: Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
