A LOOK BACK Aegon Ilkley Trophy (Ilkley, U.K.): There is no stopping Marton Fucsovics in the month of June. The Hungarian claimed his second title in four weeks on Sunday, prevailing on the grass of Ilkley with a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win over qualifier Alex Bolt of Australia. Also the champion at the clay-court Challenger in Vicenza, Italy, 25-year-old Fucsovics has moved to the doorstep of a Top 100 breakthrough. Now a four-time winner on the ATP Challenger Tour, he has boosted his position in the Emirates ATP Rankings to a career-high World No. 107. The title was extra sweet for Fucsovics, who was awarded a main draw wild card at Wimbledon following the match. Your 2017 #ATPChallenger grass-court winners......
After a three-month break from tournament competition, #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz is picking up where he left off at the $150,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Ilkley, U.K. The 19 year old took out fifth seed Go Soeda of Japan in the opening round and then survived a scare against Yuki Bhambri of India before advancing in three sets. Fritz will play third seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia in a rain-delayed quarter-final on Saturday. Fritz had been in top form before opting for a three-month training block during the clay-court season, having scored his first Top 10 win against Marin Cilic at the BNP Paribas Open in March. But despite missing the red clay, he said he’s already reaping the...
Fans of British tennis have been given a new star to get behind after teenager Jay Clarke reached his first ATP Challenger Tour quarter-final at home during the $150,000 event in Ilkley. The 18 year old from Derby hadn’t won a set in his five previous Challenger tournaments - three qualifying and two main draw appearances - but sharply turned the corner this week. Clarke made full use of a wild card to defeat fellow teenager Alex de Minaur of Australia in the first round, then toppled eighth seed Illya Marchenko of Ukraine in the Round of 16 for the biggest win of his career. He’ll play Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in a rain-delayed quarter-final on Saturday. The joy and...
If you listen closely, you can hear the crunch of pristinely trimmed blades as players take to the grass courts of the Aegon Surbiton Trophy in suburban London this week. The grass-court season is here, and the fresh smell of carefully groomed lawns is in the air on the ATP Challenger Tour, with three weeks of tennis set to commence in England. The tournaments in Surbiton, Nottingham and Ilkley provide some of the more quaint and picturesque settings on the circuit, but which Challengers are held in the most scenic, breathtaking locales? We look at the 10 best, presented in alphabetical order by city... Kunming Challenger (Anning, China) One of two events in the Asia-Pacific region that feature on our...
