Alexander Blockx won a Challenger 100 indoors last November and has now won another event in the same category in Oeiras. Meanwhile, Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg was a surprise winner in Quimper and Daniel Elahi Galan took on Tomas Barrios Vera in a high-profile Punta del Este final. Here’s a look back at all the action you might have missed from the Challenger Tour last week.<\/p>\n
Gueymard Wayenburg had only reached one quarterfinal on the Challenger circuit before this week (2024 Mouilleron-le-Captif) with his transition to this level progressing a little less smoothly than expected. But the French qualifier produced a brilliant run and improved on the biggest win of his career twice, defeating world #130 Mackenzie McDonald and world #114 Laslo Djere. In the semifinals, he took out countryman Matteo Martineau in three sets to advance to the championship match.<\/p>\n
While nothing was suggesting he would find some form again, Pierre-Hugues Herbert loves playing in Quimper with previous titles in 2014 and 2024. The defending champion<\/a> had to face three fellow Frenchmen on the way to the semifinals with only Ugo Blanchet managing a set. Herbert then engaged in a vintage clash with Ricardas Berankis in a rivalry that dates back to 2014. The 33-year-old improved his record over the former world #50 to 4-0 and reached his first final since Naples last March.<\/p>\n Herbert took the opening set after some superb court-coverage at three-all in the tiebreak and some clutch serving. He had the chance to pounce right away in the game right after, but as it turned out that was his last opportunity. Off the ground he was really volatile with issues connecting on the forehand side and Gueymard Wayenburg started outserving him too. The 21-year-old completed a week full of upsets and won his first Challenger title 6-7(3) 6-1 6-2. He jumps over 200 spots in the rankings to world #253 and will take the week off now, while Herbert is part of the French Davis Cup team in their home tie vs Brazil.<\/p>\n Liam Draxl reached the final in the first event in Oeiras<\/a> before losing to eventual champion Aleksandar Kovacevic in the opening round of the second event. Looking for a strong finish to that 3-week swing, the Canadian got through the qualifying and took out Jesper de Jong for a big win in another high-profile opener. The draw opened up for him a bit after that with Draxl having to defeat his countryman Alexis Galarneau to make another Oeiras final.<\/p>\n Blockx won an indoor Challenger in Kobe<\/a> in one of the last weeks of the 2024 Challenger season and while he couldn’t pick up a win in Australia to begin this year, back under the roof he was looking very strong right away. Despite dropping sets to Alexander Ritschard and Jurij Rodionov in a very competitive section, Blockx gradually improved his level to defeat Nikoloz Basilashvili and Mark Lajal in straights as the week went on.<\/p>\n Draxl was causing real issues in the opening set, getting Blockx to deuce in three consecutive return games. But after the 5-6 game things spiraled out of control. The Canadian tried attacking more but that would quickly lead to errors and he started struggling with some sort of muscular problem as well. Blockx took his second Challenger title 7-5 6-1 and will debut in the top 150 on Monday. Both finalists will be part of their countries’ Davis Cup teams next week with Canada taking on Hungary and Belgium facing Chile (both on home turf).<\/p>\n Barrios Vera had a solid showing at the Australian Open, beating Emilio Nava and losing in three sets to Tristan Boyer in the qualifying. He returned to his favorite surface for the second tournament of the season and had to save a match point in the opening round against Alvaro Guillen Meza before turning it into a big run. He needed one more comeback win against Max Houkes before dominating Lautaro Midon and Carlos Taberner.<\/p>\n Elahi Galan went out at the first hurdle in Australia to Khumoyun Sultanov, but was on it even quicker than Barrios Vera in Punta del Este. He won all four matches in straight sets and surrendered just three breaks of serve on the way to the final after winning 90%+ points on first delivery against Maxime Chazal and Facundo Mena. Only Gonzalo Bueno pushed him to a tiebreak as Galan secured only his second final since the start of the 2024 season (lost to Elmer Moller in Braga<\/a>).<\/p>\n Galan’s stress-free manner of progressing to the final ended relatively quickly with Barrios Vera bringing his best level of the week by a country mile. The Chilean was counter-punching well and started executing his high-octane attacking combinations as well, essentially forcing his opponent to wait him out. And that’s exactly what Galan did, claiming his fifth Challenger title 5-7 6-4 6-4. He plays in Piracicaba next, while Barrios Vera is part of Chile’s Davis Cup line-up for the away tie against Belgium.<\/p>\n Frontal tweener! \u2014 Damian Kust (@damiankust) January 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nOeiras<\/h4>\n
Punta del Este<\/h4>\n
Challenger Tour magic:<\/h4>\n
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