Eliakim Coulibaly made history for Ivory Coast this week, becoming the first player from his country to reach a Challenger final and then clinching the trophy. Alex Barrena was the other maiden winner, while Nicolas Mejia defeated Liam Draxl in a Savannah final that lasted over three and a half hours. Read up on last week’s action:
Gwangju
Jason Kubler lost to Adam Walton in the Brisbane-2 final earlier this year and then again last week in Busan despite leading 5-0 in the third set. He had to face the same opponent in the second round here, this time proving superior and showing that he already recovered from the knee issue that was bothering him in their most recent match. In fact, the Australian just rolled through the draw to make the final without dropping a set, beating another compatriot in Tristan Schoolkate on Saturday.
Alibek Kachmazov had been threatening to reach a Challenger final for a while now with four semifinal appearances since the start of last season (he even held a match point against Benjamin Bonzi in Brest). The Russian lost in the opening round of the first Asian Swing event in Busan and had to face the champion of that event, Terence Atmane, right away in Gwangju. His opponent retired after the opening set and Kachmazov eventually didn’t drop one on the way to the final, defeating Yosuke Watanuki to push past his 0-4 semifinal record.
Kubler the one more in control of his game early on in the final, keeping things clean and forcing Kachmazov to take risks. But that backfired a little with the Russian ramping up the pace to steal the second set after his opponent served for the match and had one match point (saved with an ace). The decider was close for a while with Kubler staying composed to take his 9th Challenger title 7-5 6-7(6) 6-3. He’s now back in Grand Slam qualifying range with good chances to make Wimbledon. Both finalists are headed to Guangzhou next.
Savannah
Nicolas Mejia switched to green clay after a couple of second-round exits in Mexico, trying a Challenger on this surface for the first time since 2016. It turned out to be an instant hit as the Colombian took down big-hitters Maxime Janvier and Joel Schwaerzler (who had just defeated Emilio Nava), before going on to post dramatic wins over Tung-Lin Wu and Eliot Spizzirri. He reached his first Challenger final in over a year (won San Luis Potosi and finished runner-up in Morelos in 2024).
Liam Draxl had already reached three Challenger finals earlier in 2025, losing to a very strong set of opponents in Hamad Medjedovic, Alexander Blockx, and Emilio Nava. The last of these appearances came at the start of the green clay swing in Sarasota with the Canadian really enjoying this part of the season. He showed it again in Savannah and while the draw opened up a little, he handled it expertly with just one set dropped at the hands of Oliver Crawford.
And what a classic that was in the final. Both players have a pretty similar vibe, leading to a physical match with amazing bits of athletic shotmaking. Draxl at first was just abusing Mejia not being a natural attacking player, but a physical dip from him let the Colombian back into the match. The third set was just never-ending with 3,5 hours of action. Mejia got to serve for the win before finally claiming his 2nd Challenger title 2-6 6-2 7-6(3) and putting himself back in Grand Slam qualifying range (but too late for Roland Garros). Both players will now take two weeks off.
Abidjan
Aziz Dougaz qualified for the Australian Open earlier this year and with four M25 titles in 2024 alone, it was definitely time for him to make his first Challenger final. After a loss to Florent Bax in the first event in Abidjan, the Tunisian picked it up with four straight set wins on the way to that milestone. Michael Geerts came pretty close in the semifinal match, which had to be finished on Sunday morning due to rain. Dougaz closed it out quickly from 7-5 6-5 up to ensure that he would be well-rested for the final.
Eliakim Coulibaly became the second player from Ivory Coast to reach a Challenger semifinal last year and it was exciting to see what he could do in the events played on home soil now. Abidjan-1 had him losing to Taha Baadi in the opening round, but the 22-year-old quickly turned it around for a run in the second event. The key win was the one that earned him the milestone Challenger final as the first-ever singles player from his country after a drama-filled finish against last week’s runner-up Ricardas Berankis.
Dougaz gets more out of his serve and aggressive forehand plays, which allowed him to be on the front foot early on in the final. But Coulibaly was shrinking the court beautifully and after losing the opener (despite two set points), he started standing up to the Tunisian even more. After a while that train was really tough to stop and Coulibaly claimed his 1st Challenger title 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4. He has secured a Top 300 debut and is signed up for an M25 event in Nottingham, while Dougaz was an alternate into Estoril main draw.
Rome
Vilius Gaubas reached his first Challenger final in Rome last year as a qualifier and has picked up two titles at this level since (2024 Cordenons and Menorca this month). He returned to the event as the top seed, but found himself in a pickle against Khumoyun Sultanov in the opening round. The Lithuanian eventually broke his opponent down and kept going, producing a similar comeback to defeat Lucas Neumayer in the semifinals. His win rate in April stood at 11-1.
Matteo Gigante was studying the art of coming back from a set down himself. In a pretty weird campaign that has featured him making runs at the Australian Open or Indian Wells but not doing much at the Challenger level, the Italian finally pieced a run together with wins after dropping the opening set against Lorenzo Giustino, Kimmer Coppejans, and Francesco Maestrelli. Gigante didn’t need to play his semifinal as Sandro Kopp was forced to pull out with an injury.
Gigante started well, outplaying Gaubas with the lefty aggression and showing how much more creative he is off the baseline. But the top seed is a fighter and for a long while it seemed like he had completely turned the match around. As it turned out, a second rain delay came at the perfect moment for Gigante with him coming back mentally rejuvenated to restore the break at 3-4 in the decider and clinch his 5th Challenger title 6-2 3-6 6-4. Both finalists are headed to Mauthausen next with the champion grabbing a special exempt spot.
San Miguel de Tucuman
Santiago Rodriguez Taverna made San Luis Potosi quarterfinals before switching to the sea-level courts in San Miguel Tucuman. While he already claimed an M25 title this season, the Argentine was waiting to reach his first Challenger semifinal of 2025. Seeded fourth, he didn’t waste much time getting into the groove and didn’t drop a set on the way to the final, including in big wins over Juan Bautista Torres and the defending champion Andrea Collarini.
22-year-old Alex Barrena reached his only Challenger quarterfinal in Guayaquil last year, trying to qualify for five events at this level this year and not making the main draw on any occasion. His run in San Miguel de Tucuman came as a big surprise, especially considering he was facing the recent Cordenons runner-up, Nicolas Kicker, in the opening round. But Barrena defeated his first three opponents without dropping a set before coming back from 6-7 3-5 down to defeat Murkel Dellien.
Barrena doesn’t possess the explosive forehand of Rodriguez Taverna, but he was doing well to keep himself in the points and punish all the poor shot selection coming from his compatriot’s racket. It seemed like the more established player might produce a comeback when he saved a set point with an insane forehand squash shot pass, but that was just momentary as Barrena kept playing a lot smarter to claim his 1st Challenger title 7-5 6-2. In the live ATP Rankings, he now finds himself just outside the Top 400. Both finalists are headed to Porto Alegre next, the champion on a specialist exempt.
Events held this week:
- Open Aix Provence Credit Agricole (Aix-en-Provence, Challenger 175, clay)
- Millennium Estoril Open (Challenger 175, clay)
- Danube Upper Austria Open powered by SKE (Mauthausen, Challenger 100, clay)
- Guangzhou Nansha International Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
- Ostra Group Open by Purposia (Challenger 75, clay)
- Ano II Brasil Tennis Open (Porto Alegre, Challenger 50, clay)
Top 100 players in action:
- Alexei Popyrin, Luciano Darderi, Quentin Halys, Jaume Munar, Mattia Bellucci, Arthur Rinderknech, Hugo Gaston, Corentin Moutet, Mariano Navone (Aix-en-Provence)
- Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex Michelsen, Nuno Borges, Marcos Giron, Miomir Kecmanovic, Pedro Martinez, Nicolas Jarry, Joao Fonseca, Learner Tien, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Jan-Lennard Struff, Aleksandar Vukic, Jesper de Jong, Luca Nardi (Estoril)
- Raphael Collignon, Thiago Monteiro (Mauthausen)
- Adam Walton (Guangzhou)
- Vit Kopriva (Ostrava)
First-round matches to watch:
Aix-en-Provence
- Nishesh Basavareddy vs (ALT) Otto Virtanen
- (ALT) Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Borna Coric
Estoril
- Jesper de Jong vs (8) Joao Fonseca
- (5) Miomir Kecmanovic vs Jan-Lennard Struff
Mauthausen
- (1) Raphael Collignon vs Alexander Blockx
- (3) Marin Cilic vs (SE) Matteo Gigante
Guangzhou
- (PR) Jason Kubler vs (7) James McCabe
- (5) Li Tu vs Yosuke Watanuki
Ostrava
- Zsombor Piros vs (4) Dalibor Svrcina
- Aslan Karatsev vs (2) Elmer Moller
Porto Alegre
- (1) Alvaro Guillen Meza vs Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida
- (8) Nicolas Alvarez Varona vs Pedro Boscardin Dias
Main Photo: Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
