Luka Mikrut and Duje Ajdukovic battled in the Como final, marking the first-ever all-Croatian Challenger Tour championship match. Guy den Ouden overcame his dreadful final record in 2025 to claim the trophy in Porto, while the Asian swing began in Zhangjiagang with a title for Sho Shimabukuro. Daniel Rincon triumphed in Mallorca at the Rafa Nadal Academy, from which he graduated in 2021. Read up on last week’s action:
Challenger Tour Weekly Recap
Como
Luka Mikrut had a few breakthrough performances on the Challenger circuit last year (including reaching the Zagreb final), but this season focused on building up on the ITF Tour. The Croat was at one point on a 22-match win streak at the lower tier, and in Como, he got back on track at the stronger level of competition as well. His second-round and quarterfinal being played under the roof didn’t bother him, and he returned outdoors in style with a win from 2-4 in the 3rd set over No. 1 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.
Duje Ajdukovic came a set away from breaking the Top 100 last year, but struggled to get anything going when the new season came along. The Croat reached one Challenger semifinal in Iasi and had a whole barrage of opening-round exits. However, such a talented player can always revive himself at any given minute. Mallorca champion this time last year, Ajdukovic reached his first final since, with only one set dropped along the way (to Thiago Monteiro in the quarterfinals, played indoors).
The final delivered with a great battle between the two Croatian prospects. Ajdukovic was playing one of his best matches of the season with strong serving and blunt force off the ground, but Mikrut was ready to counter-punch at high intensity after doing the same in his semifinal against Budkov Kjaer. When he had the chance, he took over with aggressive, yet precise forehands from neutral positions and used the dropshot with intelligence. Mikrut claimed his first Challenger title 6-3 7-5 and will secure a new career-high of about 250th after the US Open. He can also still improve that in Tulln, while Ajdukovic is playing Genoa.
Mallorca
Jurij Rodionov recently found some form with the Bonn title, which came a bit out of the blue. The Austrian was only able to compete in the US Open qualifying (lost to Shintaro Mochizuki in the opening round) before playing his next Challenger event on hard courts in Mallorca. Daniel Masur led him 7-6(1) 5-3 and served for the match twice in the quarterfinals, eventually suffering a three-hour loss in three tie-breaks. Rodionov kept going and extended his Challenger win streak to 9 by reaching the final.
Daniel Rincon knows this venue extremely well as a Rafa Nadal Academy graduate. Already forced to come back from 2-5 down in the 3rd against his friend Abdullah Shelbayh in the opening round, the Spaniard kept producing the comebacks and 3-set wins this week. Hamish Stewart also led him 5-2 in the 3rd, while Harold Mayot got to 7-6(2) 4-1 up. Rincon got through them all and improved his Challenger semifinal record to 2-9 by reaching his 2nd final at this level (2024 Tampere).
Rincon had been winning three-setters all week, but delivered his strongest and most consistent performance in the final. He played so freely on his home courts at Rafa Nadal Academy and brought out his entire bag of tricks with flair and variety. Rodionov struck back in the opening set and was spreading the court well with the forehand, but it was the Spaniard’s special moment, and nothing was going to stop him. Rincon claimed his 2nd Challenger title 7-6(3) 6-2 and is on the verge of returning to the Top 200. He’ll switch to clay in Seville now, while Rodionov stays on hard courts in Cassis.
Porto
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly was the runner-up at two junior Slams in 2022 (Roland Garros, US Open) before going on a quick venture in the college system in the United States for the University of Texas. He’s returned significantly more pro-ready, and after 3 ITF titles in 2025 alone, it was time for a Challenger run. Porto brought him his first semifinal and then final at this level with Bailly posting three-set wins over Spaniards Nicolas Alvarez Varona and Alejandro Moro Canas.
Guy den Ouden has been in monstrous form on the Challenger tour recently, reaching five consecutive semifinals and four finals in the last 5 events played at this level. The only issue for him this year was his conversion rate in these finals (0-6 across ITF Tour and Challenger Tour). But the quality is undeniable, and while he went down 2-4 in the 3rd to Michalski in the quarterfinals, the No. 2 seed survived to secure another championship match appearance, his 5th of the season at the Challenger level.
Den Ouden had struggled in finals this season, and when he kept arguing about the slippery court conditions, it seemed like he might have issues keeping a clear head again. But his game was actually in a good place, and he played with a higher margin, more discipline than usual, against an opponent who doesn’t have a weapon to punish that. It led him to his second Challenger title, which he sealed it with a clean 6-4 6-2 victory. The Dutchman will compete in Seville this week, while Bailly is signed up for an M25 ITF event in Meerbusch.
Zhangjiagang
Oliver Crawford reached two Challenger finals in 2023 and has been trying to hang around in Grand Slam qualifying range since. He built a strong foundation on the ITF Tour at the start of the season with 4 titles before going on semifinal runs at the higher level in Nottingham and Pozoblanco. Playing the Asian swing turned out to be a great choice with the Brit enjoying a nice draw in Zhangjiagang and surviving three-setters against Hiroki Moriya and Renta Tokuda to reach his 3rd Challenger final.
Sho Shimabukuro was peaking this time last year, winning the Challenger in Shanghai and almost going back-to-back in Guangzhou with a narrow loss to Christopher O’Connell. With big points about to drop off his ranking, the pressure was on. He was hungry to compete for trophies again, and despite dropping a set to James Watt in the opening round, the 28-year-old went on his best run of the season and defeated Zhangjiagang’s defending champion, Yasutaka Uchiyama, in the semifinals.
Shimabukuro’s feel and timing off the ground are up there with the best, but that doesn’t mean the final was easy. When he fell behind an early break in the second set, he couldn’t get it back, and Crawford kept coming up with timely big 1st serves in the decider. Shimabukuro was eventually forced to save a break point at 4-all in the 3rd (+1 FH winner), finding the goods to claim his fourth Challenger title 6-3 3-6 7-5. Both finalists are playing Shanghai next, with the Japanese defending the title.
Events held this week:
- AON Open Challenger Memorial Giorgio Messina (Genoa, Challenger 125, clay)
- LXII Copa Sevilla (Challenger 125, clay)
- Road to the Rolex Shanghai Masters (Challenger 100, hard)
- NO Open powered by EVN (Tulln, Challenger 100, clay)
- Cassis Open Provence by Cabesto (Challenger 75, hard)
- Istanbul Challenger TED Open (Challenger 75, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Pedro Martinez (Genoa)
- Roberto Carballes Baena, Carlos Taberner (Seville)
- Quentin Halys (Cassis)
First-round matches to watch:
Genoa
- Thiago Monteiro vs (6) Francesco Passaro
- Nicolai Budkov Kjaer vs (3) Borna Coric
Seville
- Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs (8) Vilius Gaubas
- Facundo Diaz Acosta vs (WC) Pablo Llamas Ruiz
Shanghai
- Yuta Shimizu vs (8) Sho Shimabukuro
- (3) Yoshihito Nishioka vs (NG) Yi Zhou
Tulln
- (7) Dominic Stricker vs Marko Topo
- Dimitar Kuzmanov vs (2) Francesco Maestrelli
Cassis
- Clement Chidekh vs (8) Valentin Vacherot
- (WC) Benoit Paire vs (WC) Mae Malige
Istanbul
- (4) Harold Mayot vs Norbert Gombos
- Pavel Kotov vs (2) Otto Virtanen
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran – USA TODAY Sports
