Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Borna Coric, and Emilio Nava are now in the lead for most Challenger titles in 2025 (four), with the Norwegian grabbing his most recent trophy last week. Michael Zheng has won three consecutive events at this level in the United States, while Pablo Carreno Busta and Cristian Garin provided the veteran package for this round of tournaments on the circuit. Read up on last week’s action:
Challenger Tour Weekly Recap
Villena
Pablo Carreno Busta won the two outdoor hard-court Challengers in Tenerife in February, but then didn’t reach anything past a quarterfinal in his next six appearances at this level. Villena was in pretty similar conditions, and surfaces like this clearly suit him a bit more right now than grinding it out on the dirt. Despite dropping a set to Dali Blanch in his opening round, the former World No. 10 improved as the week went on to post impressive wins over up-and-comers Martin Landaluce and Petr Brunclik.
Hugo Grenier was already the runner-up in Villena in 2021 and 2023, both times losing to Constant Lestienne in an all-French contest. Outdoor hard courts in Spain are typically where he’s at his strongest, reaching 6 of his 8 Challenger finals in this setting. That includes the most recent Villena championship match appearance, as he pushed his way through the draw without dropping a set. Only the in-form Daniel Merida managed to take him to a tie-break.
Grenier was making himself as tough to beat as usual, serving well and defending to draw out errors from Carreno Busta. The Spaniard’s attempts to clinch points at the net weren’t always perfect, and up until 4-6 2-1, he seemed to be in trouble. But that’s when Grenier started struggling with a thigh issue, which forced him to adjust his strategy for this match. Going for lower-percentage options wasn’t going to cut it, and Carreno Busta claimed his 14th Challenger Tour title (14-1 in finals) 4-6 6-1 6-4. He’s on the verge of returning to the Top 100 with both finalists competing in Roanne this week.
Antofagasta
Facundo Diaz Acosta had been struggling with injuries most of the season, but finally started playing pain-free around the start of September. That led to some much better results like the Szczecin semifinals and back in South America, he was ready for a big push to end 2025. Despite a pretty stacked quarter of the draw, he was able to reach his first final at any level since winning the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires in February last year, coming back from a set down to beat Alvaro Guillen Meza and Joao Lucas Reis da Silva.
Cristian Garin was on a strong run in the spring clay season, capturing Challenger titles in Mauthausen and Oeiras, before also getting through a round at Wimbledon. Unfortunately the Chilean’s form fell apart not long after with him barely picking up any wins since. Having started the South American Swing with an opening-round loss in Buenos Aires, expectations for Antofagasta weren’t that high either. But the former World No. 17 finally put a few wins together to make his third final of the season.
Diaz Acosta’s counter-punching was spotless in the opening set, especially with the wide variety of topspin on his lefty forehand. Garin reacted well by forcing him to create a bit more offense in the second, resulting in some uneven attacking play from Diaz Acosta and plenty of errors when flattening out his stronger wing. With technical issues regarding the stream and the scoreboard in the decider, most fans couldn’t witness Garin capturing his 7th Challenger title 2-6 6-3 6-3. He is nearing a Top 100 return but has chosen to withdraw from Cali this week, while Diaz Acosta is still signed up for that event.
Braga
Vilius Gaubas played a three-hour final against Henrique Rocha in Lisbon the week before Braga. These marathon matches continued for him with the first three rounds at the next event taking well over nine hours combined. Incredibly, the Lithuanian survived all that and was able to keep rolling. He eventually earned himself a chance to complete the Braga/Lisbon Portuguese double, posting his ninth win in two weeks over Zdenek Kolar in the semifinals.
Luka Mikrut has been doing very well since winning his maiden Challenger title in Como at the end of August, losing to eventual champion Marco Trungelliti in Tulln and making another semifinal in Biella. Braga saw him defeat fellow youngster Joel Schwaerzler, followed up by veteran Dusan Lajovic. He had to save a match point in an insane deciding tie-break against Sumit Nagal, finding his forehand at the last possible moment to progress and take out Alejandro Moro Canas.
Understandably, Gaubas didn’t have all that much energy left for the final. He still gave it a good go, often scrambling well out of defensive positions and never letting Mikrut feel all that secure. But the Lithuanian wasn’t quite as explosive as his opponent, which didn’t let him win the most important contest of this matchup – who will be the first to get to their inside-out forehand. Mikrut claimed his 2nd Challenger title 6-3 6-4 and has now gathered enough points to ensure a Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open. Both finalists are competing in Valencia this week.
Mouilleron-le-Captif
It was a relatively bold call from Patrick Kypson to go for the European indoor swing instead of the slightly less competitive Challengers on home soil in the United States. His level looked fine from the first week with the quarterfinals in Orleans, leading him to an even better run in Mouilleron-le-Captif. Making the final required a couple of clutch third-set wins, first over the resurgent Emil Ruusuvuori (who had just saved five match points to beat Alexander Blockx) and then over the top-seeded Raphael Collignon.
Nicolai Budkov Kjaer‘s development has sped up rapidly in the last few months and he already had an indoor title to his name after Glasgow earlier in the season. Having lost to eventual champion Martin Landaluce in Orleans the week before Mouilleron-le-Captif, the 19-year-old produced a series of strong displays to reach the semifinals. He was finally challenged by Clement Chidekh, but responded well to having to scramble a bit more than usual and punished the Frenchman’s high-risk style.
Budkov Kjaer was onto Kypson early, winning 11/13 second serve return points on the way to a bagel opening set. He took time away and the American didn’t have any room to breathe until the second set began. It was closer for a while, before Budkov Kjaer locked up the key break with a stunning forehand cross-court pass to claim his 4th Challenger title 6-0 6-3 in just 54 minutes. He joins Coric and Nava for most trophies earned at this level in 2025. Both finalists are competing in Roanne this week.
Tiburon
Tyler Zink reached his maiden Challenger semifinal in Cleveland at the start of the season, but had only played one quarterfinal in Columbus since. The American battled his way past difficult opponents like Johannus Monday or 2021 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Samir Banerjee. He then faced last week’s Las Vegas champion Abdullah Shelbayh in the final four, putting an end of the Jordanian’s 8-match win streak to reach his first championship match on the Challenger circuit.
Michael Zheng entered the Challenger in Tiburon after winning his two most recent events at this level, first in Chicago and then in Columbus. It was a draw full of college showdowns with the American running into fellow NCAA stars like Oliver Tarvet, Olle Wallin, or Rafael Jodar. He quickly extended the Challenger win streak to 14 as he reached his 4th final of the season without dropping a set, not needing even a single tie-break.
The aggressive forehand shotmaking and smooth net transitions kept things relatively simple for Zheng in the final. While he did get broken once at the start of the second set, he was barely pushed on serve outside of that and claimed his third title (+15th Challenger win) in a row 6-4 6-4. He will debut in the Top 200 when the new rankings are released and will have a decision to make regarding his Columbia University future soon. His next pro appearance will likely be in Sioux Falls after two weeks of rest, while Zink is competing in Fairfield now.
Events held this week:
- 2025 Jinan Open (Challenger 125, hard)
- Copa Faulcombridge by Marcos Automocion (Valencia, Challenger 125, clay)
- l’Open Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes de Roanne (Challenger 100, indoor hard)
- Cali Challenger (Challenger 75, clay)
- Grossman-Kennedy/LWH Solano Challenger (Fairfield, Challenger 50, hard)
- Hersonissos Challenger 5 (Challenger 50, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Arthur Cazaux, Adam Walton, Laslo Djere, Dalibor Svrcina, Tristan Schoolkate, Mackenzie McDonald (Jinan)
- Pedro Martinez, Vit Kopriva (Valencia)
- Jacob Fearnley, Jordan Thompson, Filip Misolic, Jan-Lennard Struff (Roanne)
- Thiago Agustin Tirante (Cali, starting from qualifying)
First-round matches to watch:
Jinan
- (WC) Yi Zhou vs (5) Tristan Schoolkate
- (4) Dalibor Svrcina vs Bernard Tomic
- Coleman Wong vs (3) Laslo Djere
Valencia
- (1) Pedro Martinez vs (WC) Albert Ramos-Vinolas
- (4) Ignacio Buse vs Pablo Llamas Ruiz
- Vilius Gaubas vs (2) Vit Kopriva
Roanne
- (1) Jacob Fearnley vs Luca Van Assche
- (3) Filip Misolic vs (WC) Henry Bernet
- Patrick Kypson vs (4) Jan-Lennard Struff
Cali
- Federico Agustin Gomez vs (5) Lukas Neumayer
- Nicolas Kicker vs (4) Hady Habib
Fairfield
- (1) Benjamin Hassan vs Tibo Colson
- Philip Sekulic vs (4) Garrett Johns
Hersonissos
- (1) Kimmer Coppejans vs Edas Butvilas
- (3) Federico Cina vs Inaki Montes-de la Torre
Main Photo Credit: Jerry Lai – USA TODAY Sports
