Two winners on the ATP Challenger Tour last week were also champions seven days earlier. Pablo Carreno Busta produced the Tenerife double, while Kyrian Jacquet had to move to another venue in India. Meanwhile, Manama saw Marton Fucsovics deliver a standout performance with just one service break conceded in five matches. Read up on last week’s action:
Manama
Marton Fucsovics suffered a few disappointing exits at the start of the season, casting doubt on his ability to defend himself from a big ranking drop that will come for him in April (defending an ATP 250 title in Bucharest). But the Hungarian woke up with a strong performance at Davis Cup (two key points over Canada) and kept on in Manama. In four matches on the way to the final, he only dropped his serve once. Viktor Durasovic even got to a set point against him, but lost 4-6 5-7.
Andrea Vavassori reached 3 of the last 5 Grand Slam finals in men’s doubles and has been playing a limited singles schedule of late. Despite that, he qualified and won a round at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam the week before Manama, signing up only for the singles in Bahrain. The 29-year-old didn’t have it as easy as Fucsovics, but he took down three opponents in deciding sets. While he reached World No. 128 in singles back in 2023, he was yet to win a pro singles title of any kind (0-6), earning his 7th chance in Manama.
Fucsovics dominated the opening set with his experience and great slice helping him handle the quirky style of Vavassori. But things shifted a bit after the 2-hour rain delay and the Italian started pushing him much harder. Fucsovics kept himself cool mentally and ended up claiming his 7th Challenger title 6-3 6-7(3) 6-4. These points should keep him in the Top 100 at least until he is forced to defend the Bucharest ATP 250 trophy in April. Due to his run, he had to withdraw from Doha ATP 500 qualifying and will be back in Dubai after a week of rest. Vavassori returns to focusing more on doubles in Doha.
New Delhi
Kyrian Jacquet won Chennai the week before New Delhi and didn’t waste much time starting another run as he defeated Sho Shimabukuro 6-1 6-2. Fatigue never really became an issue for the Frenchman on the run to the final with him not dropping a set and only needing one tie-break against Michael Geerts. After defeating the top seed, Vit Kopriva, in the semifinals, Jacquet’s record in 2025 improved to 12-1 (only loss to Laslo Djere in the second round in Quimper).
Billy Harris suffered a semifinal loss to Elias Ymer in Chennai, meeting the same opponent in the quarterfinals in New Delhi. While he initially led 6-2 3-1, the match ended up being very tough with the Brit only starting to control his nerves at 5-6 0-30 in the deciding set. This revenge win led him to another semifinal, this time against Tristan Schoolkate. After another thriller, Harris secured his second Challenger final (lost to Hugo Grenier at 2023 Les Franqueses del Valles).
Jacquet kept playing with so much control in his counter-punching game, mixing up pace to lure out some big error spikes from Harris. Despite a small setback when he didn’t serve out the first set from 40-15, things only escalated further in his direction. The Frenchman claimed his 3rd Challenger title 6-4 6-2 and with 175 points gained in 2 weeks, he’ll now find himself a few spots behind the Top 150 in the ATP Rankings. Both finalists are also in the main draw in Pune.
Tenerife
Filip Misolic had a tough 2024 campaign with a 16-22 record across all levels, which led to him falling outside the Top 300. He had to start his Tenerife run from the qualifying draw, before coming back from a set down to beat Carlos Taberner in the first round of the main draw. The biggest win saw him eliminate the top-seeded Dominik Koepfer in a deciding set tie-break, before he also defeated Daniel Rincon to make his first Challenger final since Mauthausen in May 2023.
Pablo Carreno Busta won his first Challenger title since 2015 at the first event in Tenerife, dropping just one set to Vilius Gaubas in the quarterfinals. He was able to avoid pretty much any fatigue concerns during the second run, getting some help due to a walkover from Antoine Escoffier and a retirement win over Abdullah Shelbayh. But when he had to play a full match against Jie Cui and Benjamin Hassan, he was just as dominant as the week before.
The slow hard court in Tenerife generally fits Misolic’s playstyle, but he wasn’t doing enough with his shots to make Carreno Busta uncomfortable. If you allow the Spaniard to slowly build up the rally, he’s never going to miss with his aggression having so much safety involved. Besides the dicey last game, Carreno Busta was in total control as he claimed his 13th Challenger title 6-3 6-2 (13-1 in Challenger finals!). He finds himself about 60 points from returning to the Top 100 and probably won’t be back until Indian Wells, while Misolic took a special exempt into Pau.
Challenger Tour magic:
#Creative
📷: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/po8z9Xcf4Q— Damian Kust (@damiankust) February 15, 2025
But thankfully we have this crazy point on the replay
📷: @ATPChallenger https://t.co/ci92tzYn0i pic.twitter.com/xPDeu2qcBW— Damian Kust (@damiankust) February 11, 2025
Events held this week:
- Terega Open Pau Pyrenees (Challenger 125, indoor hard)
- Pune Metropolitan Region Challenger (Challenger 100, hard)
- Lexus Glasgow Challenger (Challenger 75, indoor hard)
- Brazzaville Challenger (Challenger 50, clay)
Jacob Fearnley (Pau) will be the only Top 100 player in action.
First-round matches to watch:
Pau
- (WC) Arthur Bouquier vs (4) Martin Landaluce
- Maxime Cressy vs (2) Raphael Collignon
Pune
- (1) Billy Harris vs (WC) Manas Dhamne
- (4) Elmer Moller vs Valentin Vacherot
Glasgow
- (1) Constant Lestienne vs (WC) Henry Searle
- Rudolf Molleker vs (2) Coleman Wong
Brazzaville
- (ALT) Ezequiel Monferrer vs Maximilian Neuchrist
- Alec Beckley vs (7) Franco Agamenone
Main Photo Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
