A LOOK BACK Challenger Banque Nationale Drummondville (Drummondville, Canada): #NextGenATP player Denis Shapovalov delighted the home crowd with his first Challenger title by defeating fourth seed Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 6-3, 6-2. He is the youngest Challenger winner this year and the first 17-year-old Challenger titlist since Norwegian Casper Ruud prevailed last September in Seville, Spain. Drummondville has become a second home on tour for Shapovalov. having won his first Challenger match there last year and first title today. Shapovalov’s time in Drummondville this year is also projected to push him into the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, making him the youngest player currently in that echelon. Shapovalov is just the third Canadian champion since 2014,...
A LOOK BACK Cachantun Open (Santiago, Chile): Top seed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil continues his success in clay-court Challengers with a 7-5, 6-3 over wild card and local favourite Nicolas Jarry. The 33-year-old now has nine Challenger titles, eight of which have come on clay. He has won at least one Challenger every year since 2011. Jarry drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals this year, having also finished runner-up in his previous event in Morelos, Mexico. (l. Bublik) Zhuhai Open (Zhuhai, China): Top seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia lived up to his billing by defeating seventh seed and defending champion Thomas Fabbiano of Italy, 6-3, 6-4. Fresh off his victory over Roger Federer at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis...
A LOOK BACK Wroclaw Open (Wroclaw Open): Former Top 10 player and eighth seed Jurgen Melzer continued his recent run of form by taking the title in Wroclaw with a 6-4, 6-3 win over local wild card Michal Przysiezny. The Austrian, who returned to the tour last June after sitting out for nine months due to injury, also won last month’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Budapest. Having started the year outside the Top 300 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, he is projected to move back inside the Top 160 on Monday. Przysiezny was seeking to become the first Polish winner in the tournament’s 14-year history. He reached his first Challenger final since winning the title in Kyoto in March...
A LOOK BACK Morelos Open (Morelos, Mexico): Third seed and #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan won his first ATP Challenger Tour title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Nicolas Jarry of Chile. At 19 years and eight months, he is the youngest Challenger winner so far this year. Bublik is the third #NextGenATP winner in 2017, joining Korean Hyeon Chung (Maui) and American Noah Rubin (Launceston). He has jumped nearly 70 spots since the start of the season to a career-high No. 137 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Jarry was also seeking his first Challenger title, reaching his first Challenger final since Quito in September 2014. His run in Morelos pushes him back inside the Top 250 and he’s...
A LOOK BACK Tempe Challenger (Tempe, Arizona): American Tennys Sandgren picked up his first ATP Challenger Tour title in more than three years by defeating Serbian Nikola Milojevic 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. A rain-filled weekend pushed the semi-finals to Sunday and the final to Monday. Sandgren’s last Challenger win came in November 2013 in Champaign, Illinois. Milojevic still seeks his first Challenger title, dropping to 0-2 in Challenger finals after finishing runner-up last month in Noumea (l. Mannarino). Challenger La Manche Cherbourg (Cherbourg, France): Frenchman Mathias Bourgue delighted the local crowd by taking the title with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Maximilian Marterer of Germany. Bourgue earned his second ATP Challenger Tour crown, with the previous one also coming in France...