Hamad Medjedovic secured his Top 100 debut by winning the Challenger in Oeiras. Meanwhile, Rio Noguchi and Viktor Durasovic were the maiden champions for the week. Read up on last week’s Challenger Tour action:<\/p>\n
Rio Noguchi<\/strong> lost to Lukas Neumayer in the opening round of the first event in Nonthaburi, but surely liked his chances to progress deeper into this tournament with so many players leaving for Australia. Maximus Jones put him in trouble in the quarterfinals and wasn’t able to keep up the physical intensity for more than a set, while in the final four, Noguchi pulled off an impressive win over last year’s Calgary champion, Murphy Cassone. That led the Japanese into his third Challenger final (2022 Playford, 2024 Jinan<\/a>).<\/p>\n Jie Cui<\/strong> came to Nonthaburi from the ATP 250 in Hong Kong, where he won a round in the qualifying over Juan Manuel Cerundolo. The Chinese took out the No. 2 seed, Francesco Maestrelli, in the second round before engaging in a couple of thrillers to make his first Challenger final. Daniel Michalski held three match points against him, playing a touch too passively when it mattered. Meanwhile, Marat Sharipov wasn’t able to take him down despite hitting 16 aces in the semifinals.<\/p>\n Cui’s shotmaking was very impressive in the opening set as he kept finding low-margin shots down the line or inventive shots in situational rallies. But Noguchi’s timing is quite neat as well and the Japanese was able to keep himself close, saving two set points in the tie-break. As it turned out, that was the beginning of the end for Cui. Noguchi claimed his 1st Challenger title 7-6(9) 6-2 as both players will stay in Nonthaburi for one more week but will have to start their runs from the qualifying draw (no special exempts as the final was played on Sunday).<\/p>\n Henry Searle<\/strong> won the 2023 Wimbledon boys’ singles title and has been moving up the pro ranks despite finishing his 2024 campaign on a 4-match losing streak. The Brit was quick to hit back with a good run in Nottingham, not dropping a set in the first three matches and cruising to a 6-2 3-0 (double-break) lead against Mika Brunold in the semifinals. That match suddenly got complicated, but the 18-year-old went back to his aggressive instincts in the final set to still take the win.<\/p>\n Viktor Durasovic<\/strong> made his lone Challenger final back in Portoroz in 2019 and had to wait about 5,5 years for another opportunity. The Norwegian was part of the United Cup team at the start of this season, featuring in one doubles match. It was time to kick off the singles campaign and despite being an underdog in every match, the 27-year-old secured four wins with just one set lost at the expense of Dennis Novak in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Searle kept coming up with clutch serves on key points in the opening set (back-to-back aces at 5-6 15-40), but it was Durasovic who locked in off the ground to erase a 1-4 deficit in the tie-break. The Norwegian got handled a controversial foot fault call at 3-4 30-40 in the second set, but impressively, it didn’t break his spirits at all. He applied pressure early on in the decider to claim his 1st Challenger title 7-6(6) 3-6 6-1 and return to the Top 300, becoming the 4th Norwegian Challenger Tour champion (12 – Ch. Ruud, 3 – Andersen, 1 – Ca. Ruud). He’ll take a week off before appearing in an M25 ITF in Luxembourg in a couple of weeks with Searle also getting some rest now.<\/p>\nNottingham<\/h4>\n