Not just one but two Top 100 debuts were secured on Sunday, with Jacob Fearnley and Alexander Ritschard earning that right thanks to the titles they captured. But that wasn’t all the stories from the ATP Challenger Tour this week – lucky loser Edas Butvilas produced a dream run in Charleston and Tung-Lin Wu maintained his brilliant Davis Cup form to reach 9 wins in a row. Read up on last week’s action:
Challenger Tour Weekly Recap
Orleans
Harold Mayot began his campaign by avenging a loss to Kamil Majchrzak from just five days earlier in Saint-Tropez, defeating the Pole in a deciding set tie-break. That ended up sparking a big run from the Frenchman, who took out his compatriots Antoine Escoffier and Benjamin Bonzi before snapping a great run from Marc-Andrea Huesler. By making the final, he secured himself another chance at a Top 100 debut after losing against David Goffin on his previous opportunity (Ilkley final in June).
Jacob Fearnley‘s story just keeps getting better and better. By the time he made the final in Orleans, the Brit was 22-1 in Challenger main draws in 2024 (26-1 if you include qualifying). He was also 17-0 indoors across all levels and secured himself a chance to break the Top 100 despite missing five months of pro action from January to June (was still in college at Texas Christian University). After surprisingly dropping a set to doubles specialist Jonathan Eysseric in the opening round, the rest of his run could only be described as routine.
Fearnley was once again in another league to Mayot, just like in their clash in Rennes two weeks earlier. To the Frenchman’s credit, he didn’t go down without a fight though. He engaged the crowd, saved two match points at 3-6 3-5, and even earned himself a couple of set points later on. But Fearnley had enough confidence to keep going and find the response, taking his 4th Challenger title 6-3 6-4 (only Dzumhur has picked up this year – 5). It’s enough for the Brit to break the Top 100, producing some absolutely phenomenal stats since wrapping up his college career. Both finalists are in the draw in Mouilleron-le-Captif this week.
Antofagasta
Juan Manuel Cerundolo didn’t handle the altitude conditions in Cali particularly well, taking just three games against Juan Bautista Torres in the second round. It didn’t take him long to bounce back though and the week after in Antofagasta, he made the final without dropping a set. Only Matias Soto took him to a tie-break as Cerundolo also stopped a run from the resurgent Juan Ignacio Londero to make his first final since winning back-to-back Challenger 50s in June.
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo returned to South America after a few weeks spent on hard courts in Europe. He was unsuccessful at the Challenger level there, although he picked up an ITF M25 title. But not much was suggesting just how well the former junior No. 1 was going to play in Antofagasta. Especially against Hugo Dellien and Jesper de Jong, Vallejo played perhaps his best tennis to date and ended up securing the 3rd Challenger final of his career (2023 Santa Fe, 2024 Sao Leopoldo).
Cerundolo was forcing himself into pressing to end the rallies in the opening set, sacrificing plenty of control over his forehand and making many errors. The Argentinian did well to start playing more to his strengths later on though, asking Vallejo to do some of the dictating and directing the ball around the court with his spin and placement. That clicked and it eventually took him to a 10th Challenger title 3-6 6-2 6-4 as he picked up his 3rd (and biggest trophy of the season). Next up for both players is the event in Buenos Aires, where Vallejo picked up a special exempt to join the main draw.
Lisbon
Raphael Collignon has had a fantastic season after returning from a serious injury and keeps rising with nothing to defend until the end of 2024. The weather was patchy mid-week in Lisbon, but the Belgian only needed to play one match indoors (defeated Jozef Kovalik). It took until the semifinals for someone to trouble him, but Collignon put himself in a great position by beating Zsombor Piros in less than an hour earlier that day. It certainly helped him come back from a break down to defeat Elmer Moller.
Alexander Ritschard has been making deep Challenger runs left and right since April, including the titles in Salzburg and Savannah, and the final in Heilbronn. In Lisbon the Swiss had to battle for his first opening-round win over Arthur Gea, which turned out to be his toughest match on the way to the final. Having his second round moved indoors certainly didn’t bother him (won 6-1 6-1 over Luka Pavlovic) and he also handled having to play twice on Saturday well.
You’d think Ritschard would feel some tension playing for his Top 100 debut at 30 years old, but it really wasn’t the case. Other than firing with his powerful weapons, he was also absorbing pace well and extending points to make it tough for Collignon force errors. Even after dropping the second set, the Swiss didn’t lose it mentally and claimed his 1st Challenger title (and the Top 100 debut) 6-3 6-7 6-3. He just edges Mattia Bellucci, who will remain at No. 101. Ritschard decided to withdraw from Villena and take some well-earned rest, while Collignon is going to play Braga next.
Nonthaburi
Tung-lin Wu caught fire during a recent Davis Cup tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina and by the time he made the Nonthaburi semifinals, he was already on seven straight-set wins in a row (and was barely losing games in most of these matches). He was eventually pushed by James McCabe, who took out Arthur Cazaux and Aslan Karatsev earlier in the event. Wu survived from a break down in the deciding set and made his first Challenger final since April 2023 in Tallahassee.
Mackenzie McDonald played a few Challengers during the last two seasons, but without much success. Nonthaburi was his first hard-court appearance on the circuit since April 2021 though and the American instantly managed to impress. After a rather pleasant opening-round draw, he also handled his business with tough opponents thrown at him left and right. To make the final, he defeated Mitchell Krueger, Gabriel Diallo, and Coleman Wong without dropping a set.
Wu was simply breathtaking in the opening set, hitting winners from every position on the court. Things got more tricky in the second set and he had to hold on despite losing some of that edge. McDonald went up 4-0 in the second set tie-break, but wasn’t handling the heat well and lost the next seven points barely moving and throwing in an underarm serve. Wu claimed his 2nd Challenger title 6-3 7-6(4) and snapped a run of four consecutive final losses (overall final record 2-6). This puts him back in Grand Slam qualifying range as well. Both players will be in Shanghai this week, Wu making the qualifying draw as a last-minute alternate.
Charleston
Nishesh Basavareddy looked uncomfortable at times in the quick indoor conditions in Columbus the week before, but back on a more suitable outdoor hard court the American found his resourceful best. After beating Alex Rybakov from a set down in the opening round, the 19-year-old took out his next three opponents in straight sets, including both J. J. Wolf and Christopher Eubanks on Saturday. Basavareddy made his 3rd Challenger final (Fairfield 2023, Bloomfield Hills 2024).
Edas Butvilas lost a thriller in the final qualifying round to the aforementioned Rybakov and snatched a lucky loser spot into the main draw. He proceeded to grind down Columbus runner-up James Kent Trotter from 3-5 down in the deciding set to suddenly start playing his best tennis. Like Basavareddy, Butvilas had to play twice on Saturday and first made his maiden Challenger semifinal by defeating Bernard Tomic to then reach his first Challenger final over Tristan Boyer.
Butvilas served great in the final and defended even better. Shrinking the court and absorbing pace well is one of the ways in which you can beat Basavareddy right now and the American’s issues with shot selection were fully out in the open. The Lithuanian claimed his maiden Challenger title 6-4 6-3 to become the fourth champion from his country at this level (15 – Berankis, 1 – Butvilas, Gaubas, Grigelis). He jumped over 100 ranking spots into the Top 300 and took a special exempt for Tiburon, where Basavareddy is also in the draw.
Events held this week:
- Open de Vendee (Mouilleron-le-Captif, Challenger 100, indoord hard)
- Villena Open (Challenger 100, hard)
- Braga Open (Challenger 75, clay)
- Challenger de Buenos Aires (Challenger 75, clay)
- Tiburon Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Quentin Halys (Mouilleron-le-Captif)
- Thiago Agustin Tirante (Braga)
- Federico Coria (Buenos Aires)
First-round matches to watch:
Mouilleron-le-Captif
- (1) Quentin Halys vs Matteo Martineau
- (3) Richard Gasquet vs Alexander Blockx
- Gabriel Debru vs (4) Lucas Pouille
Villena
- (1) Duje Ajdukovic vs Marc-Andrea Huesler
- (3) Lukas Klein vs Gijs Brouwer
- (8) Jerome Kym vs Matteo Gigante
Braga
- Vilius Gaubas vs (8) Tomas Barrios Vera
- (6) Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs Jaime Faria
- Filip Jeff Planinsek vs (2) Francesco Passaro
Buenos Aires
- (1) Federico Coria vs Alvaro Guillen Meza
- Enzo Couacaud vs (WC) Juan Ignacio Londero
- (6) Roman Andres Burruchaga vs (SE) Adolfo Daniel Vallejo
Tiburon
- (WC) Colton Smith vs (5) Patrick Kypson
- (6) Abdullah Shelbayh vs (SE) Edas Butvilas
- (PR) Dominic Stricker vs (3) J. J. Wolf
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – USA TODAY Sports
