Francisco Comesana, Fabio Fognini, and Luca Nardi were all among the ATP Challenger Tour champions this week, winning their respective titles to lock up their Top 100 finishes and Australian Open main draw spots. Meanwhile, Nishesh Basavareddy kept his incredible run going and Yuta Shimizu overcame a 0-5 record in Challenger finals. We recap last week’s action:
Rovereto
Francesco Maestrelli had never won a main draw match in an indoor Challenger before Rovereto, making this run extremely surprising. Especially as it started from beating an indoor expert like Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Dino Prizmic and August Holmgren were both a set up against him before he pulled off the comeback. Against the Croat he saved one match point at 5-6 in the deciding set (unreturned serve) to reach his first Challenger final since June 2023 in Parma.
Luca Nardi finished runner-up to Kei Nishikori in Helsinki recently and needed another huge run to secure his Top 100 finish. The second seed was down a set in his opener against Giovanni Fonio, but then took six consecutive sets with a 6-2 scoreline. The key match for the 21-year-old was the semifinal with fellow youngster Martin Landaluce, which he ended up taking 6-4 2-6 6-3. As such, Nardi came one win away to getting that year-end Top 100 spot and Australian Open main draw entry.
Maestrelli kept beating the odds this week despite seemingly lacking indoor pedigree. But these runs usually come to a stop at some point and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday. Nardi shut him down completely 6-1 6-3 to claim his 7th Challenger title, posting a really important win to clinch the year-end Top 100 finish. It was his last match of the season and Maestrelli was supposed to head to Maia to try to seek an Australian Open qualifying spot, but will likely miss out after withdrawing.
Montemar
Fabio Fognini was defending his points for winning the Valencia title this time last year, needing a big run in Montemar to secure Australian Open main draw. The Italian was up against it from the opening round, coming two points away from defeat against Daniel Rincon. But the quality of his clean ball-striking started overwhelming opponents more and more as the week went on. Inaki Montes de la Torre got him to a deciding set from 4-6 1-4 (two breaks down) in the semifinals, gassing completely not long after.
Lukas Neumayer showed up in Montemar for his last tournament of the season and started by winning three matches in two sets, all with one tie-break each. The best win had him taking down Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who had defeated him twice recently. Getting closer and closer to Australian Open qualifying, the Austrian faced Pol Martin Tiffon in the semifinals. Despite blowing a 6-3 5-4 40-0 lead on serve, the 22-year-old managed to reset mentally and reach his fourth Challenger final (Salzburg 2023, Cordenons 2023, Tulln 2024).
Neumayer was keeping up with Fognini, being probably the first player this week who could survive grinding with him but also had the firepower to wrap up points. Taking things to the decider seemed like it might grant him an advantage, but it was the Italian who recovered better to grab an early 4-0 lead. Neumayer looked fried mentally and physically with his second wind coming a little bit too late. Fognini claimed his 8th Challenger title 6-3 2-6 6-3 and withdrew from Maia with enough points to make Australian Open main draw. Neumayer also ended his season, likely with an Australian Open qualifying spot in the bag.
Sao Paulo
Thiago Agustin Tirante‘s Top 100 debut from earlier in the season didn’t stick, but an event at altitude is always a good chance for the Argentinian to find some confidence again. After comfortable defeats of compatriots Renzo Olivo and Juan Bautista Torres, Hady Habib pushed him to a deciding set with Tirante blasting 21 aces to survive 7-6 4-6 6-4. He reached his first final since April (Mexico City) through a tight two-setter against Tomas Barrios Vera.
Francisco Comesana returned to hard courts for the first time since the US Open and made his backhand slice a huge weapon at altitude this week. He took down home crowd favorites Orlando Luz and Felipe Meligeni Alves, while also coming out on top against some of the best altitude players on tour – Juan Pablo Ficovich and Matias Soto. The affair with Ficovich ended at 8-6 in the third set tie-break, while Soto even got to a match point at 6-5 in the decider (unreturned serve).
It was a true altitude classic in the final and these matches always have such thin margins. Comesana was trying to use that killer slice to get any advantage in the rallies with Tirante attempting to make the most out of his serve and +1 forehand combinations. It was a 4-4 BP save that eventually decided the match with Comesana digging deep in the next game to claim his 7th Challenger title 7-5 4-6 6-4 and secure his Top 100 finish.
Yokohama
Li Tu has been posting second-round or quarterfinal runs for the past month or so, breaking that streak by defeating young talents like Philip Sekulic or Coleman Wong. The rain forced him to go again on Saturday after the match with Wong, facing Constant Lestienne in the semifinals. The Frenchman had multiple break points to go up a double break in the decider and was even serving for the win at 5-4, but to no avail as eventually it was Tu prevailing in a deciding set tie-break.
Yuta Shimizu had a strong Playford/Sydney double in Australia about a month before Yokohama, later suffering an opening-round exit in Kobe to Mattia Bellucci. This time handed a slightly more manageable draw, the Japanese went deep in an event that was seriously hampered by rain. Eventually Shimizu had to play both his quarterfinal and semifinal on Saturday, surviving a thriller against Australian Open junior champ Rei Sakamoto (was 0-2 down in the third set) to make the Yokohama final for the second year straight.
Shimizu was pushing for a break more in the opening set, but it was Tu who found his serving rhythm in the tie-break to clinch it somewhat comfortably. He was soon broken on a controversial line call and while he did restore it, it seems like that was the turning point with his frustration gradually increasing. Still, it was his opponent who was coming up with a great mix of counter-punching and aggressive ventures to the net. Shimizu overcame a 0-5 final record to claim his 1st Challenger title 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2. Both finalists are signed up for Yokkaichi this week.
Puerto Vallarta
Nishesh Basavareddy locked up his Australian Open main draw wildcard with a huge Challenger stretch in the United States, including finals in Charlottesville and Champaign. The American was determined to keep his run going in Puerto Vallarta in the hopes of making the Next Gen Finals. He was almost out of fuel when he dropped the second set 0-6 to Giles Hussey, finding his way back into the match and eventually reaching his third final in the last four weeks.
Liam Draxl made headlines by not dropping a single game in the first two rounds, double-bageling Evgeny Karlovskiy and Alex Hernandez in 99 minutes combined. While Aidan Mayo and Dimitar Kuzmanov were able to grant him a stronger challenge, they still didn’t manage to come close to taking a set off him. The Canadian had been 0-3 in Challenger semifinals for the season and took out Kuzmanov to make his first final since winning Calgary 2023.
Basavareddy was in control of the proceedings for most of the match, but by the second set it was more of the grimacing that unfortunately was one of the major themes of his week. It felt like he must clinch this one in two and while he was struggling, he still found some ridiculous shots like the back-to-back backhand cross winners to break at 4-all. He didn’t serve it out, but claimed his 2nd Challenger title 6-3 7-6(4) anyway and has now secured his spot at the Next Gen Finals. That leaves his Manzanillo participation this week under a question a mark (Draxl is competing at the same event).
Challenger Tour magic:
Crazy point with Fognini’s casual smashes and then the fake dropper. Iñaki laughing there at the end
📷: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/FhI8zOf1L8— Damian Kust (@damiankust) November 23, 2024
Oh my. Just watch these two FHs to get the early break in the third (back on serve now)
📷: @ATPChallenger https://t.co/Azr8XqoQUZ pic.twitter.com/iBbi0t5PWR— Damian Kust (@damiankust) November 20, 2024
Events held next week:
- Challenger Dove Men+Care Temuco (Challenger 100, clay)
- Maia Open (Challenger 100, indoor clay)
- Yokkaichi Challenger (Challenger 75, hard)
- Manzanillo Open (Challenger 50, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Aleksandar Kovacevic (Temuco)
- Federico Coria (Maia)
- Yoshihito Nishioka, Mattia Bellucci (Yokkaichi)
First-round matches to watch:
Temuco
- Matias Soto vs (4) Thiago Agustin Tirante
- Joao Lucas Reis da Silva vs (2/WC) Francisco Comesana
Maia
- (ALT) Francesco Maestrelli vs (8) Henrique Rocha
- (7) Alejandro Moro Canas vs Abdullah Shelbayh
Yokkaichi
- (1) Yoshihito Nishioka vs Qualifier
- Tung-Lin Wu vs Federico Cina
Manzanillo
- (1) Nishesh Basavareddy vs Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez
- (7) Chris Rodesch vs Dimitar Kuzmanov
Main Photo Credit: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
