Joao Fonseca keeps rising the rankings and will join the Top 60 after triumphing in Phoenix, a tournament which might turn out to be his last-ever Challenger title or even final. Aleksandar Kovacevic won the other Challenger 175 event in Cap Cana, while a player even younger than 2006-born Fonseca made the Hersonissos final. Read up on last week’s action:
Cap Cana
Aleksandar Kovacevic won just one match in three events since reaching his first ATP Tour final in Montpellier at the start of February. But he didn’t play that poorly in the Indian Wells loss to Matteo Arnaldi and brought a good level to Cap Cana as well. The American took out Daniel Altmaier from a set down in a one-hander battle before bringing down top seed Alexandre Muller from 1-3 down in the deciding set. In the latter encounter, he really got the crowd on his side and was able to ride that wave.
Damir Dzumhur won six Challenger titles last year and is now trying to take that level to the main circuit. While these attempts have been relatively unsuccessful so far, the Bosnian showed up in Phoenix to find another run in-between Indian Wells and Miami. It almost ended at the very first hurdle with a 4-6 2-4 deficit against Tristan Boyer. But Dzumhur eventually got under the youngster’s skin and started eliminating tournament favorites like Miomir Kecmanovic and Jakub Mensik.
With Dzumhur’s tricky playstyle, it’s often impossible to predict who will be bothered by it and who will handle it comfortably. Kovacevic for the most part looked completely unfazed, serving well (100% first serve points won in the opening set) and surviving the situational points. It was only at 6-2 4-0 that the final got competitive and getting over the line required a clinical 0-40 hold from the American. But eventually Kovacevic grabbed his 6th Challenger title 6-2 6-3 and will carry a lot of momentum into the ATP 1000 in Miami. Dzumhur is the top seed in Zadar, switching surfaces and continents really quickly.
Phoenix
Alexander Bublik entered Phoenix with a 2-8 record for the season and desperately needed some wins. The lack of confidence was clearly visible with sudden collapses against Rinky Hijikata (4 games lost in a row from 6-2 5-3) or Corentin Moutet (4 games lost in a row from 5-1 in the 3rd set), but the Kazakh was still able to find away to win both matches. He was also the one to stop top seed and two-time defending champion, Nuno Borges, this time with a flawless semifinal performance.
Joao Fonseca didn’t handle the windy conditions too well in Indian Wells, but ultimately the loss to Jack Draper doesn’t look horrible at all in hindsight. The Brazilian showed up in Phoenix and was instantly on it with just one set dropped on the way to the final (despite the insanely stacked draw). He quickly ran away from Jan-Lennard Struff in their deciding set and completely neutralized Kei Nishikori’s assets in the semifinals, always being the one to strike first and with superior pace.
Seemingly just holding onto his delivery and waiting for the inevitable Bublik hiccups was going to be a decent strategy for Fonseca, but he couldn’t serve out the opening set on two occasions and only took it after an entertaining tie-break. It was a similar story going forward as the issues to close out continued, but Fonseca built enough of a lead to claim his 3rd Challenger title 7-6(5) 7-6(0). It earns him a Top 60 debut in the ATP Rankings and the Brazilian likely won’t be playing any Challengers soon, perhaps never again. Both finalists are headed to the ATP 1000 in Miami.
Cherbourg
A finalist in Quimper earlier this year, Pierre-Hugues Herbert is always a force indoors. But the draw wasn’t pleasant and Clement Chidekh missed six opportunities to lead him by a set and a break in the opening round. It’s not like it was getting easier too with Herbert then taking on the sensation of this year’s indoor Challengers in France, Arthur Bouquier. He once again prevailed in three before putting in stronger performances against more established opponents in Emil Ruusuvuori and Jurij Rodionov.
Jelle Sels had been 3-7 in 2025 coming into Cherbourg and had retired in his two most recent matches. Nothing was suggesting that a run like this was around the corner, but that’s how things work out sometimes. A champion at another indoor French Challenger back in 2022 (Mouilleron-le-Captif), the Dutchman had only one tough match on the way to the final. While he didn’t serve out the match at 6-3 6-5 against Patrick Zahraj, he found a way to reset mentally and stay ahead in the decider.
After such tough first two rounds, the rest of the event kind of felt like a breeze for Herbert. While that might be a little unfair to Sels, the reality was that he couldn’t quite do enough to hit the Frenchman out of points, too often allowing him to hang back and keep himself in it on return. Herbert went to the trusted serve-and-volley play in crucial moments to claim his 6th Challenger title (all indoors, 5th in France) 6-3 6-4. He will now take the week off before starting the clay season in Naples (he was the runner-up there last year), while Sels took a special exempt into Murcia.
Santiago
Thiago Monteiro lost in the Cordoba quarterfinals to Juan Pablo Ficovich the week before Santiago with the top seed looking for more this time around. While his performances weren’t error-free and he didn’t really have any easy passage into the next round, he kept performing in the key moments and coming out victorious. Mateus Alves and Genaro Alberto Oliveri took him to third sets, but perhaps it was Lautaro Midon and Ignacio Buse who kept things even more competitive despite losing in straights.
Daniel Elahi Galan was already a Challenger champion in Punta del Este at the end of January with an injury keeping him out of most ATP Tour Golden Swing events. But he recovered for Cordoba and barely lost to Federico Coria in the quarterfinals before producing a stronger run in Santiago. He went a perfect 3-0 in tie-breaks on the way to the final with Emilio Nava even getting to a set point, but all to no avail as the Colombian survived a 10-8 breaker to win eight sets in a row.
Monteiro had the more confident start, using the slight altitude conditions to his advantage and dominating the rallies. The first crack came when he led 5-3 and unfortunately for him, it started an avalanche. Galan stuck around, instilled doubt and watched the errors flow, taking seven games in a row before eventually claiming his 6th Challenger title 7-5 6-3. He finds himself about 50 points away from returning to the Top 100 with both finalists featuring in Asuncion this week.
Hersonissos
Dimitar Kuzmanov lost to Stuart Parker in the quarterfinals of the first event in Hersonissos, interestingly playing Arthur Gea in both opening rounds of the fortnight. These matches against the Frenchman were quite comfortable for him, but he was briefly down a set and a break to Giovanni Fonio. Kuzmanov had produced his best run of 2024 also at the Challenger 50 level, taking the title in Astana and struggling with his form basically all the way until this double on Crete.
Federico Cina started his season with an M15 Sharm el Sheikh title, after which he pulled out from the first event in Hersonissos. But the organizers also provided him a wildcard to the latter and it was clearly a good call. The 17-year-old’s win streak went up to 9 by the time he made the final with a couple of sloppy sets in the windy conditions at the start of the week going to a tie-break. But by the end of it, he delivered a great showing to dispatch the No. 2 seed Aslan Karatsev 6-4 6-2.
At first it seemed like Kuzmanov didn’t have that much to hurt Cina with. But the Bulgarian always grinds hard and his relentlessness was proving pretty vital. He was much more at ease with the windy conditions in Hersonissos, throwing in a lot of good variation in terms of the height on his shots. Ultimately Cina started losing the plot a bit as Kuzmanov claimed his 3rd Challenger title 6-4 6-2. He returns to the Top 100 and took a special exempt into Zadar, while the runner-up has a main draw wildcard at the ATP 1000 in Miami.
Challenger Tour magic:
Topo’s reaction to this mid-court volley from Karatsev says it all. What is no man’s land?
📷: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/duJgGAtIYt— Damian Kust (@damiankust) March 11, 2025
Events held this week:
- Paraguay Open – Babolat (Asuncion, Challenger 75, clay)
- Yucatan Open (Merida, Challenger 75, clay)
- Costa Calida Region de Murcia (Challenger 75, clay)
- Falkensteiner Punta Skala Zadar Open (Challenger 75, clay)
Damir Dzumhur (Zadar) and Marton Fucsovics (Murcia) are the only Top 100 players in action.
First-round matches to watch:
Asuncion
- Alvaro Guillen Meza vs (8) Murkel Dellien
- Gonzalo Bueno vs (4) Tomas Barrios Vera
Merida
- (1) Hugo Dellien vs Maxime Janvier
- Elmar Ejupovic vs (5) Bernard Tomic
Murcia
- (1) Marton Fucsovics vs Henrique Rocha
- (4) Sebastian Ofner vs (PR) Kimmer Coppejans
Sebastian Ofner will be playing his first match since the US Open.
Zadar
- (3) Borna Coric vs Pedro Cachin
- (WC) Dino Prizmic vs Elias Ymer
Main Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ABACAPRESS.COM
