A LOOK BACK
Open D’Orleans (Orleans, France): Seventh seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert delighted the home crowd by winning the biggest singles title of his career over Norbert Gombos of Slovakia, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. This is Herbert’s fourth career ATP Challenger Tour title, with the Frenchman now owning a 4-0 record on the final Sunday. He also prevailed earlier this February at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Bergamo, Italy.
Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London, having already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Despite the loss, Gombos can be satisfied in reaching his first final of the year. The 26 year old has been turning his season around in recent weeks, posting a 10-4 record in his past four Challengers.
Tiburon Challenger (Tiburon, California): Darian King of Barbados scored his third ATP Challenger Tour title in the second half of 2016 with a win over American teenager and qualifier Michael Mmoh, 7-6(2), 6-2. King won back-to-back Challengers in July in Cali, Colombia, and Binghamton, New York. Having started the year at No. 226 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, he’ll reach a new career-high standing on Monday by entering well inside the Top 150.
Mmoh enjoyed a breakout week by reaching his first ATP Challenger Tour final. The 18 year old had only won four main draw matches at the Challenger level prior to arriving in Tiburon.
Claro Open (Medellin, Colombia): Second seed Facundo Bagnis of Argentina has now won more ATP Challenger Tour singles titles than anyone in 2016, earning his fourth win on Saturday by defeating Caio Zampieri of Brazil, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2. All four titles have come on South American clay. Bagnis prevailed in January in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, then won again in March in Santiago, Chile. With his win in Medellin, he’ll move to a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking on Monday and is projected to land inside the Top 80.
Zampieri recorded his best week of the season by reaching his first Challenger final since September 2011 in Campinas, Brazil. He is still looking for his first Challenger title.
BFD Challenger (Rome, Italy): Jan Satral of the Czech Republic picked up his second Challenger title of the year with an upset win over top seed Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-2. The Czech player also prevailed this July at the $50,000 event in Marburg, Germany. Haase reached his fourth consecutive Challenger final, having prevailed last week in Sibiu, Romania, and winning at home in July in Scheveningen. He also finished as runner-up at another Dutch Challenger last month in Alphen.
Swedish teenager Mikael Ymer, the younger brother of #NextGen star Elias Ymer, also came through qualifying to reach the semi-finals. It was just his second tournament of the year after being sidelined for nearly 10 months due to injury.
A LOOK AHEAD
Four challengers are on the calendar this week, with the $125,000 event in Mons, Belgium, taking top billing. This illustrious event returns for the 12th consecutive year and features past champions including David Goffin, Radek Stepanek and Janko Tipsarevic. All eight seeds are inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, with defending champion Illya Marchenko of Ukraine as the top seed and Dustin Brown of Germany as the second seed. Brown has a tricky first-round match in former Top 10 player Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
Other notable names in the draw include former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz of Poland and #NextGen star Andrey Rublev of Russia, while Herbert and Gombos will also look to continue their form from Orleans.
The $100,000 Challenger in Stockton, California, makes its debut on the calendar. American Bjorn Fratangelo and Tim Smyczek are the first and second seeds, respectively, while American #NextGen star Frances Tiafoe is the third seed. King and Mmoh are also in the draw and looking for another big run in California.
The $50,000 event in Mohammedia, Morocco, is back for the third straight year. World No. 74 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia is the top seed and World No. 86 Gerald Melzer of Austria is the second seed. Several talented youngsters in the draw including #NextGen star Elias Ymer, his brother Mikael Ymer, and Norwegian teenager Casper Ruud, who won his first ATP Challenger Tour title on his first attempt last month in Seville, Spain.
Lastly, the $40,000 tournament in Campinas, Brazil, returns for the sixth consecutive year. World No. 72 Carlos Berlocq of Argentina is the top seed, while World No. 87 and local favourite Thiago Monteiro is the second seed. Bagnis aims for another Challenger victory this year as the third seed, while Zampieri is also in the draw and is hoping for another big run.
View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams
ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: New in 2016, the ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.