Borna Coric became the first player to win four ATP Challenger Tour titles this season as he defeated Stan Wawrinka in a legendary final in Aix-en-Provence. Meanwhile, Alex Michelsen was a surprising clay champion at the other Challenger 175 event in Estoril, with four further winners crowned in the lower categories. It was a week full of action, and you can read up on it here.
Challenger Tour Weekly Recap
Aix-en-Provence
Borna Coric was already leading the ATP Challenger Tour title count this season alongside Emilio Nava (Lugano, Thionville, Zadar). He secured another run at the 175 category to ensure his return to the Top 100. The Croat eliminated No. 3 seed Mariano Navone in a straight-set win that was far less comfortable than the scoreline suggested before battling from 4-6 0-2 down (and three break points that game) against Ignacio Buse in the semifinals.
Stan Wawrinka had already played one Challenger event earlier this season in Naples, losing in the quarterfinals to Luciano Darderi. Despite a tough draw with World No. 26 and top seed Alexei Popyrin in the second round, the 40-year-old pulled through that encounter before defeating Nishesh Basavareddy and Borna Gojo. Just like in Naples, he would need to go through both Croatian Bornas in a row (Gojo and Coric). By making the final, he secured a chance to become the oldest Challenger Tour champion ever at 40 years and 1 month.
Wawrinka vs Coric was already a final on the ATP Tour in Chennai 2016. Now it was time for a Challenger championship match between them. The Swiss was more clutch in the opening set tie-break, but with time, the younger opponent dragged him around the court more and more and held his own in the backhand down-the-line battle. Wawrinka fought like a lion, even when it seemed he was already out of steam and had to save a break point at 2-4 in the third set. But Coric still claimed his 7th Challenger title 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(4), becoming the first player to reach 4 trophies at this level in 2025. He withdrew from Rome qualifying, while Wawrinka pulled out of Francavilla al Mare.
Estoril
Andrea Pellegrino had previously made the semifinals from qualifying in another big clay Challenger this season (CH 125), now producing another run from a similar position at the highest possible category at this level. He defeated three Top 100 opponents in a row, including the biggest win of his career against World No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime. The toughest matches had him pegged back by Dusan Lajovic or Nicolas Jarry, but the Italian quickly regrouped mentally early in both deciding sets.
Alex Michelsen had played just one match on European clay this season, with a loss to Alexander Bublik in Madrid, and his start to the campaign in Estoril also wasn’t looking that promising. But the American got out of a pickle in the second set against Giovanni Fonio and suddenly began playing as if he were on a hard court. In his first Challenger since last June, he posted impressive straight-set wins over Luca Nardi and Miomir Kecmanovic to make the final.
Pellegrino’s body language wasn’t the best in the final, and it didn’t take long for Michelsen to put him in a state of being too negative. But that was how the American played it with a good mix of aggression, grinding, variety – seemingly all coming at the right time. Along with the increased number of free points on serve it was always Michelsen who had the edge and he claimed his 3rd Challenger title (first on clay of any kind) 6-4 6-4 and now has a shot to be seeded for the French Open. He plays Rome next, while Pellegrino chose to take some rest and withdrew from Francavilla al Mare.
Mauthausen
Tomas Barrios Vera has already reached the Punta del Este final and won the Campinas title this season. After a couple of rather average appearances in the green clay swing in the United States, the Chilean traveled to Europe and played the event in Mauthausen in quicker clay conditions that really suit his game. The stacked draw had him start against Jurij Rodionov before surviving a thriller against Martin Landaluce (saved 19/23 break points) before properly getting his game going.
Cristian Garin had already reached a Challenger semifinal in Merida this season, but fell out of the Top 200 after losing points for ATP 250 Estoril and Munich runs from last season. He bounced back in Austria with a brutal defeat over Taro Daniel in the opening round before winning three consecutive matches in deciding sets. He came very close to defeat against Roman Andres Burruchaga in the semifinals, saving four break points at 3-6 0-3 and only losing one further game until the end of the match.
It was a high-octane start from Barrios Vera, and he was in basically every return game in the opening set, with Garin’s chances looking quite bleak. But credit to the former World No. 17, who did not let his compatriot dominate like that and forced him to dial down that aggression. The rallies got longer, and they weren’t all that one-sided anymore, either. Garin claimed his 5th Challenger title (first since 2018) 3-6 6-1 6-4 and returns to the Top 200 right after falling out. Barrios Vera will now play qualifying in Rome, while the champion barely missed out (#1 alternate).
Guangzhou
Tristan Schoolkate won his maiden Challenger title in Guangzhou last year and came into the event after reaching the Gwangju semifinals (which allowed him to bounce back from a surprising defeat in Busan). This time, the opening round turned out to be difficult again, with the Australian getting pushed hard by Ryan Peniston. Besides another battle with Gwangju runner-up Alibek Kachmazov, it was a little easier from there.
Terence Atmane won the first tournament of the Asian swing in Busan before retiring to the aforementioned Kachmazov in the opening round in Gwangju. Clearly, that was just the fatigue factor as the Frenchman needed a lot of physical resilience to get through to the final, particularly when he fought back from 1-6 0-3 (double-break) down against Marat Sharipov in the quarterfinals. In his next match against Brandon Holt, he stopped the American from breaking the top 100.
With such two aggressive playstyles, it would always come down to who performs better in key moments. Atmane had the early lead and even got to 6-3 4-2, before Schoolkate broke for the first time in the match and forced a second-set tie-break. But the Frenchman came up with a well-timed forehand pass at 4-all to secure his 4th Challenger title 6-3 7-6(4), winning two trophies in three weeks again after doing it in China in 2023 (Zhangjiagang and Guangzhou). He’s back inside the Top 120 and about 100 points away from a Top 100 debut. Both finalists are expected in Wuxi next.
Ostrava
Hady Habib went on a six-match losing streak after the Australian Open, although that was largely caused by his appearing in only high-profile events (including ATP 500 main draws in Doha and Dubai). The Lebanese hit the Challenger Tour again with the start of the European clay season. After a second-round exit in Rome, he played much better in Ostrava with quality wins over top-seeded Vit Kopriva or the veteran Daniel Evans. He dropped his only set in the first four matches to Oriol Roca Batalla.
Zsombor Piros struggled with his health recently, retiring early in his Madrid quarterfinal before withdrawing in Oeiras qualifying. But after a couple of weeks off, the Hungarian was ready to go. He had to be on point early with an opening-round matchup against hometown hero Dalibor Svrcina. Taking that relatively comfortably set him up very nicely for the rest of the week as he reached his second Challenger final of the year (Oeiras-2) without dropping a set.
Piros was always going to be on the back foot power-wise, but it was his duty to counter-punch actively and ensure Habib doesn’t have a clear upper hand off the ground. That’s exactly what he did with some great defensive shotmaking, and his domination in baseline rallies is best shown by the fact that he didn’t need to save a break point in the final. Piros claimed his 6th Challenger title 6-3 6-2, and while he missed out on the Roland Garros qualifying cut, he should be back in for Wimbledon. Both finalists are headed to Prague next, with the champion taking a special exemption.
Porto Alegre
Santiago Rodriguez Taverna was the runner-up in San Miguel de Tucuman the week before Porto Alegre and kept up the good form. Getting a quick retirement from Valerio Aboian helped conserve some energy, but he was clearly doing alright in that department with battles against Ivan Guido Justo or Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida. The 25-year-old made multiple Challenger finals in one season for the second time in his career after two appearances in January 2022.
Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo produced some solid results in stacked ITF events recently, winning the title at M25 Tarragona and losing in the M25 Reus final. The Spaniard had been 0-5 in Challenger semifinals without ever winning a set and locked up another opportunity to reach a milestone in Porto Alegre. It was almost a San Miguel de Tucuman rematch in the final as the 26-year-old stopped Barrena 1-6 7-5 6-4 to not allow his opponent to take on Rodriguez Taverna again.
Rodriguez Taverna was still heavily struggling to figure out his game, often overplaying the dropshot or going all-out on the forehand side. He almost blew a 4-0 lead in the second set with Sanchez Izquierdo restoring the two breaks, but eventually took the second set. Things were looking bleak for him as he went 0-3 (two breaks down in the third), but despite many further obstacles along the way, the control over the rallies was in his hands. That helped Rodriguez Taverna secure his second Challenger title 4-6 6-4 7-6(6) with both finalists playing Santos next.
Events held this week:
- Wuxi Open (Challenger 100, hard)
- Abruzzo Open Francavilla al Mare (Challenger 75, clay)
- Advantage Cars Prague Open (Challenger 75, clay)
- Santos Brasil Tennis Cup (Challenger 50, clay)
Adam Walton (Wuxi) will be the only Top 100 player in action.
First-round matches to watch:
Wuxi
- Yosuke Watanuki vs (WC) Yi Zhou
- (PR) Ilya Ivashka vs (3) Terence Atmane
Francavilla al Mare
- (ALT) Dominic Stricker vs Paul Jubb
- (ALT) Clement Chidekh vs Valentin Vacherot
Prague
- (1) Shintaro Mochizuki vs (WC) Petr Brunclik
- Hady Habib vs (3) Alexandrer Blockx
- Lloyd Harris vs Daniel Evans
Santos
- (1) Alvaro Guillen Meza vs Zdenek Kolar
- Nicolas Alvarez Varona vs (4) Gonzalo Bueno
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – USA TODAY Sports
