Saba Purtseladze became the third player from Georgia to claim a Challenger title (after Irakli Labadze and Nikoloz Basilashvili), clinching the trophy at his home event in Tbilisi. Meanwhile, Jay Clarke returned to the winners’ circle for the first time since 2022. Read up on last week’s action:
Skopje
Jay Clarke has been rebuilding his form on the ITF Tour over the last few months, posting a 3-2 record in finals since March (31-5 win/loss overall). That gave him enough fire to post his first deep run at a Challenger since 2022 as he swiftly took apart Skopje defending champion Joel Schwaerzler in the quarterfinals. In the final four he had an even tougher challenge against World No. 96 Hugo Dellien, who was outranking the entire field by about 150 spots. But Clarke had none of it, locking up his first Top 100 win since 2019.
Nerman Fatic had been similarly strong on the ITF circuit this year with a 16-2 record, but was struggling to turn it into a massive Challenger run with early exits in Mauthausen or Zagreb recently. The Bosnian had to start from the qualifying campaign, defeating Gerard Campana Lee to reach the main draw. The key moment was the match point he saved against Christoph Negritu in the quarterfinals before avenging his Zagreb loss to Mili Poljicak in the final four.
While the rallies were long and entertaining in the final, it was typically just one player winning them. Clarke’s consistency was forcing Fatic to get very creative if he wanted to have a chance at wrapping up points. Most of the time that just led to some cat-and-mouse play, where the Brit was also holding up okay. Clarke took his 4th Challenger title 6-2 6-3 and will be back inside the Top 200 now, which grants him entry into Wimbledon qualifying (unless he gets a main draw wildcard). He plays the Challenger in Chisinau this week, while Fatic is going to take a couple of weeks off before returning in Perugia.
Tbilisi
Federico Cina recently made appearances at the ATP 1000 events in Miami, Madrid, or Rome, but now it was time to get back to lower-tier events. The Italian quickly showed that switch won’t be an issue and handled Petr Bar Biryukov easily in the opening round. Recent Abidjan Eliakim Coulibaly already pushed him a bit in the quarterfinals and then against Charles Broom, Cina had to come back from 1-3 in the third set and 0-4 in the final tie-break. Surviving all that allowed the 18-year-old to reach his 2nd Challenger final.
Saba Purtseladze started his season with four consecutive losses, but then opted for a long stretch of ITF events in Sharm el Sheikh. It was extremely successful with the Georgian picking 39 wins and 3 titles in about three months. That gave him a nice springboard for a potential run at home, even though he almost lost to Giles Hussey in the opening round. Purtseladze matches were absolute thrillers all week in Tbilisi with three match points saved against Daniil Glinka and then two more against Martin Damm.
Purtseladze didn’t earn a break point in the opening set, but saved three himself and was able to get into the tie-break. It was clear that both players were struggling in the sun, especially with the baggage from the previous matches. The one who handled it better was the Georgian, whose serve stood strong while both competitors were short on breath off the ground. Purtseladze claimed his 1st Challenger title 7-6(5) 6-4, becoming the 3rd player from his country to triumph at this level (9 – Labadze, 6 – Basilashvili). The champion is scheduled to play Chisinau next, while Cina will be back in Prostejov qualifying after a week of rest.
Events held this week:
- UAMS Health Little Rock Open (Challenger 75, hard)
- Internazionali di Tennis – Citta’ di Vicenza (Challenger 75, clay)
- Moldova Open (Chisinau, Challenger 50, hard)
Chun-Hsin Tseng (Vicenza) is the only Top 100 player in action.
First-round matches to watch:
Little Rock
- (WC) Michael Zheng vs Christian Langmo
- (JR) Rafael Jodar vs (2) Liam Draxl
Vicenza
- (1) Chun-Hsin Tseng vs Murkel Dellien
- (ALT) Abdullah Shelbayh vs (2) Jerome Kym
Chisinau
- Petr Bar Biryukov vs (5) Saba Purtseladze
- Ricardas Berankis vs (4) Radu Albot
Main Photo Credit: Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union
