Already one of the marquee events on the ATP Challenger Tour, the Open d’Orleans continues to raise the bar. The hard-court perennially boasts one of the most competitive draws on the ATP Challenger Tour, which this year included seven Top 100 players and two formerly ranked in the Top 20 in the ATP Emirates Rankings: Ernests Gulbis and Jerzy Janowicz. The tournament saw a flurry of competitive three-set matches in the historic French city, culminating in a high-quality final with 2016 finalist Norbert Gombos of Slovakia overcoming crowd-favourite Julien Benneteau in three sets. Gombos not only walks away with a hefty prize cheque from the $150,000 indoor tournament (the only indoor tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour of that level),...
A LOOK BACK Open d'Orleans (Orleans, France): Last year, Norbert Gombos finished runner-up to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the Orleans final. On Sunday, the fourth seed went one step further, claiming the title at the prestigious $150,000 event with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over another Frenchman - Julien Benneteau. Gombos will rise to a career-high No. 80 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, having notched his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title and first in nearly one year. [ALSO LIKE] BFD Challenger (Rome, Italy): The 2017 season has become the year of the Serbian on the ATP Challenger Tour. Filip Krajinovic secured a tour-leading 10th title for the European nation with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver in Rome. Krajinovic, who...
The ATP Challenger Tour event in Orleans, France, has become one of the most popular Challengers among players for its extraordinary attention to detail, right down to the winner’s prize. Open D’Orleans director Didier Gérard noted that all of the trophies he had won during his career were tucked away in his garage. Determined to make sure his event wouldn’t be forgotten about by its champions, he gained inspiration from the annual tradition by Roland Garros organisers of hiring a painter to create a frame for the tournament’s poster. Since the first edition of the tournament in 2005, a different artist each year creates two identical, but original pieces of artwork. One piece is given to the singles champion during...
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...
Tecnifibre player Daniil Medvedev has graduated this year from ITF Futures tournaments to ATP Challenger Tour events and it may not be long before he becomes a regular fixture on the ATP World Tour. Medvedev is currently at a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 136 and is still in a position to crack the Top 100 by the end of the season.He's also vying for $50,000 in the Young Guns on the Road competition. Competing at this week’s $125,000+H ATP Challenger Tour event in Orleans, France, the 20 year old Russian defeated fourth seed and defending champion Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the opening round. “A lot of the guys told me how good this tournament is, but it’s...
