A LOOK BACK Challenger de Quito (Quito, Ecuador): Chilean Nicolas Jarry collected his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season, his second on South American soil after earlier winning the title in Medellin, Colombia. The 21-year-old ATP player disposed of fifth seed Gerald Melzer 6-3, 6-2 to claim the title, having earlier fought back from a set and a break down to oust top seed Victor Estrella Burgos in the semi-finals. Photographer Jorge Anhalzer’s framed scenic photograph depicting Quito and Ecuador from the sky was presented as the trophy. He improved his record to 13-2 in Challengers since qualifying for his first Wimbledon in July and continues a meteoric rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings. He was outside the Top...
Spanish tennis is enjoying a resurgent 2017 campaign and the months of July and August are proving to be quite fruitful on both the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour. Rafael Nadal's return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, David Ferrer's run to the semi-finals at the Western & Southern Open and Roberto Bautista Agut's triumph in Winston-Salem have grabbed the headlines. But what Spaniards are accomplishing on the Challenger circuit is just as remarkable. Granada native Roberto Carballes Baena notched his second title in five weeks on Sunday, lifting the trophy in Manerbio, Italy. The 24 year old defeated countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and 23 minutes. He is soaring towards a...
A LOOK BACK Acqua Dolomia Tennis Cup (Cordenons, Italy): Swedish 21-year-old Elias Ymer secured his third Challenger title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena in Cordenons. It was the third straight week a #NextGenATP player had won a Challenger title with Michael Mmoh in Lexington, Alexander Bublik in Aptos and now Ymer in Cordenons all triumphing. Ymer had fallen to No. 293 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, but continued his resurgence and did not drop a set all week. Odlum Brown VanOpen (Vancouver, Canada): After being sidelined for nearly three years due to hip surgery and other injuries, German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe claimed his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season in Vancouver on Sunday. A former No....
A LOOK BACK Zavarovalnica Sava Slovenia Open (Portoroz, Slovenia): Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky makes a return to the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after rallying from a set and a break down to deny Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 6-3 in Portoroz. The 31-year-old Kiev native is projected to return to World No. 99 with his sixth Challenger title and first since May 2016 in Seoul. #NextGenATP Italian Berrettini will break into the Top 150 for the first time with his fourth Challenger final. Meanwhile, the event brought a close to the career of local favourite, former World No. 43 Grega Zemlja. The Slovenian won six titles on the ATP Challenger Tour. Wishing all the best to @GZemlja...
A LOOK BACK International Challenger Chengdu (Chengdu, China): Top seed Yen Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei picked up a staggering 28th ATP Challenger Tour title by defeating second seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 6-3, 6-4. The 33 year old wins his second title of the year (Taipei City) and is now 20-3 in Challenger finals since 2008. Donskoy was seeking his second Challenger win of 2017 after prevailing this March in Zhuhai. The all-time #ATPChallenger titles leader adds a 28th , as @LuRendy downs #Donskoy 63 64 in Chengdu. 12-0 sets won in last six finals. pic.twitter.com/UfalERzwyg— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 6, 2017 Thindown Challenger (Biella, Italy): Fifth seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia saved his best tennis for the...