A LOOK BACK Latrobe City Traralgon Challenger (Traralgon, Australia): Top seed Jordan Thompson enjoyed the taste of victory on home soil in Traralgon, lifting his fourth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of the year. Thompson downed Grega Zemlja 6-1, 6-2 in 65 minutes, firing seven aces and converting five of 15 break points. The Aussie extends his win streak to 10 straight, following a title run in Ho Chi Minh City two weeks ago. He is one of four players to win four or more titles this year, joining Facundo Bagnis (5), Gerald Melzer (4) and Yen-Hsun Lu (4). "It feels great," said Thompson. "I always love playing in Australia. It's good to make the final, like I did last year,...
A LOOK BACK International Challenger Ningbo (Ningbo, China): Second seed Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei won his 25th ATP Challenger Tour title with a dominant victory over Hiroki Moriya of Japan, 6-3, 6-1. Lu saved four match points in his semi-final win over sixth seed and #NextGen star Hyeon Chung of Korea. The veteran has been a dominant force at this event, winning three of the four editions of the Ningbo Challenger. He is also the third player to successfully defend a Challenger title this year. Lu has recorded an outstanding 29-5 record on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2016, winning three titles (Ningbo, Surbiton, Ilkley) and finishing runner-up at two other events (Seoul, Bangkok) Open Brest Arena Credit Agricole...
A LOOK BACK Monterrey Open (Monterrey, Mexico): Fifth seed and American #NextGen star Ernesto Escobedo continued his outstanding second half of 2016 by winning his second ATP Challenger Tour title, defeating fellow American and third seed Denis Kudla, 6-4, 6-4. Ernesto is the 14th #NextGen winner of the year and only the second (joining Frances Tiafoe) to win multiple titles. Escobedo was ranked outside the Top 500 of the Emirates ATP Rankings when he competed last year in Monterrey, but is now projected to move up to No. 129 on Monday. Tashkent Challenger (Tashkent, Uzbekistan): Fifth seed Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia won the biggest title of his career by defeating seventh seed and local favourite Denis Istomin, 7-5, 6-4. Kravchuk...
A LOOK BACK Stockton ATP Challenger (Stockton, California): In a battle of American #NextGen stars, third seed Frances Tiafoe picked up his second ATP Challenger Tour title of 2016 by defeating Noah Rubin, 6-4, 6-2. This was the fifth all-#NextGen final of the year, four of which involved Tiafoe. The Maryland native will make his debut in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, joining World No. 71 Taylor Fritz as the second 18-year-old American. At 18 years and eight months, No. 100 Tiafoe overtakes his countryman as the leader for the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award presented by Emirates. The youngest player in the year-end Top 100 will receive the special honour during the Barclays ATP...
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...