ATP Challenger Roundup – Week of 7/8

Perugia, Italy – €46,600 +H

Federico Delbonis, the 1 seed from Argentina, ranked #75 in ATP rankings took home the title in Italy only dropping 2 sets throughout the tournament. Delbonis beat World #164 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, 6-0, 1-6, 7-6(5) in the final. With this win, Delbonis gets 80 points and is now #70 in the world. This is his 12th ATP Challenger title overall. 7 of his 12 ATP Challenger Titles are all from Italy and all 12 of his Challenger Titles are all played on clay.

Winnipeg, Canada – $54,160 +H

Home hope Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Canada, came up just short against Daniel Nguyen of the United States in his opening match, as Nguyen made it to the semifinals, his best showing yet at an ATP Challenger. Nguyen won 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the first round. Nguyen lost in the semifinal to other home hope Brayden Schnur (ATP #112) and 3 seed of Canada, (6-2, 7-5). However, Schnur lost in the finals to Norbert Gombos of Slovakia (ATP #158) 7-6(3), 6-3. With the win, Gombos gets 80 points and is now 133, which is 53 spots off of his career high ranking of 80, as he is tracking back to his top level. He is now 7-7 in ATP Challenger Finals.

Winnetka, Illinois, USA – $54,160 +H

#1 seed Bradley Klahn (ATP #87) was dominant in his run this week in Winnetka, not dropping a single set over the course of the tournament, as he beat journeyman Jason Kubler seeded 12th, (ATP #188) of Australia, 6-2, 7-5. Kubler was impressive as well in his run beating Americans Stefan Kozlov and Chris Eubanks. He played one less match than Klahn because of his walkover from fellow Aussie, Thanasi Kokkinakis in the semifinal. With the victory Klahn receives 80 points and is now #84 in the world, 21 spots off his career high of 63. This is Klahn’s 8th Challenger Title, and he is now 8-6 in Challenger Finals.

Braunschweig, Germany – €69,280 +H

In a field of top players such as 1 seed Casper Ruud of Norway (ATP #62) and 2 seed Hugo Dellien of Bolivia (ATP #83) and defending champion and last week’s winner and fellow home hope Yannick Hanfmann of Germany, Tobias Kamke (ATP #224) and his quest for a title in his home country fell just short in winning the title losing to Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro seeded 6th (ATP #113), 7-6(6), 6-1. After winning a tight first set Thiago’s play went up a little as Kamke’s play dropped off, only winning 1 game in the final set. Monteiro only dropped 2 sets throughout the whole tournament. With the title, Monteiro gets 90 points and is now ranked #88 and is 14 spots off of his career high ranking of #74. This is Monteiro’s 3rd Challenger Title, and 2nd of 2019, winning earlier in Punta del Este in Uruguay. He is now 3-2 in finals and all his final appearances have come on clay as well.

ATP Challenger Roundup- Week of 7/1

Two tournaments on the Challenger circuit coincided with Wimbledon this week, and two part-time ATP Tour participants took home each trophy. This is the Up The Line Tennis Challenger Recap for the week of July 7th.

Ludwigshafen, Germany – €46,000 +H

Home hope and unseeded Yannick Hanfmann (ATP 212) took home the trophy at the 2019 Ludwigshafen Challenger while only dropping 2 sets throughout the tournament, winning 6-3, 6-1 in the final over Filip Horanský (ATP 178) of Slovakia. Hanfmann is coming off a successful 2018 year where he debuted in the top 100 at 99 in the ATP rankings and won 2 challengers on the year, one of which he has to defend his title next week in Braunschweig. This is his 4th career Challenger title, and first of 2019. This was a great final,and although Horanský did not play his best tennis, he can still be proud of his result in this tournament.

Recanati, Italy – €46,000 +H

Egor Gerasimov of Belarus has lifted his first Challenger trophy of 2019 at the Guzzini Challenger, which he won 6-2, 7-5 against home hope, Roberto Marcora of Italy. He is now 6-1 in ATP Challenger Tour Finals in his career. He has been as high as 121 in the world, and he is currently #167 in the world but will now move up into the top 150 with this win. This title snaps a cold streak for the Belarusian, as he had dropped his past five matches leading up to the tournament.

ATP Challenger Roundup- 2/11

Cherbourg- ATP 80

Ugo Humbert continues his rapid rise with Challenger title #4.

Ugo Humbert took home title #1 of the year, and #4 on his career, defeating Steve Darcis on Sunday, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-3. This was the longest final on the year, at 2 hours and 23 minutes, and Humbert was just too good over the long period of time with Darcis still showing signs of rustiness from his comeback. However this was a great showing from both players this week, one they can both be proud of.

Humbert rises to a career high 75, while Darcis continues his rise, back to 288 in the world.

Bangkok- ATP 80

Henri Laaksonen brings the Swiss contingent a first Challenger title since 2016.

Henri Laaksonen romped over Dudi Sela, 6-4, 6-2 in 77 minutes to bring home his first Challenger title since 2016, coincidentally that one being the last Swiss title as well.

Laaksonen heads to 121 in the world, while Sela moves to 195.

ATP Challenger Review- Week of January 28

(Q) Maxime Cressy wins his first Challenger level title in Cleveland.

Cleveland 90-

(Q) Maxime Cressy (USA) d. Mikael Torpegaard (DEN) 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3

The first qualifier champion on the new Challenger Tour, UCLA senior Cressy won 7 matches in 7 days to claim his maiden Challenger title against former Ohio State standout Mikael Torpegaard. Bombing in 22 serves, the tall American born in France took advantage of many seeds in his half of the draw falling early to run to a semifinal clash with Marcos Giron, which was a tight three setter as well as his final. Cressy rises over 200 spots to a career high 313 in the world, which will help him make many main draw Challengers in the year to come.

Lloyd Harris after winning in Launceston, Tasmania.

Launceston 80-

(1) Lloyd Harris (RSA) d. (12) Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) 6-2, 6-2

Lloyd Harris was an elephant breaking free of his cage this week, absolutely romping to a first title of the year and a spot right at 100 in the world for the first time in his career. Harris did not drop a set all week against tough competition, such as youngster Nicola Kuhn and Israeli stalwart Dudi Sela, setting himself up against the Italian Giustino in the final. It was more of the same for Harris, taking four breaks from the Italian and saving all 5 break points faced for his first crown of the year.

Barrere with his trophy, his first of the calendar year.

Quimper 80-

(15) Gregoire Barrere (FRA) d. Dan Evans (GBR) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Three champions, three career high rankings; Barrere battled his way through a very tough field to avenge his French countrymen by defeating Evans in the final Sunday. Barrere, who had to defeat top seed Hubert Hurkacz, countryman Calvin Hemery, and one time Jack Sock vanquisher Jurgen Zopp to move to his third challenger final in the past 12 months, where Dan Evans stood in his way. Evans, who beat 4 Frenchmen through the week, including rising star Ugo Humbert gave Barrere a fight through the first set, firing Federer-like backhands around the court until Barrere took control in sets 2 and 3.

Next Week-

The American swing continues in Dallas, Texas, while tournaments return to Budapest and Chennai, all on hard courts.

ATP Challenger Review- Week of January 21

Taylor Fritz celebrates his second Newport Beach Challenger title with son Jordan.

Taylor Fritz (USA) continued his hot start to the 2019 season by capturing the Newport Beach Challenger title for the second year in a row, defeating Brayden Schnur (CAN) 7-6(7) 6-4 to win. Taylor said in his interview with Josh Meiseles from the ATP that his key to winning was “My serve. My serve got me through a lot of tough situations and it closed out the match for me. I knew it was going to be a close match, because he doesn’t have much to lose playing me. I expected him to come out swinging. I just tried to neutralise his serve as much as possible with deep returns. I told myself that it doesn’t really matter how well he serves, as long as I don’t get broken. In the second set, I was able to steal a break and hold my serve through the rest of the match.”

Taylor will move to a new career high of 40 in the world with the points from his third round appearance at the Australian Open, and from this title defense. Schnur will move to his career high as well, jumping 32 spots up to 164 in the world.

Other Challengers-

Berankis celebrates his 11th Challenger title of his career in Rennes.

Rennes, France- Ricardas Berankis captured his first title of the year with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Frenchman Antoine Hoang. Even though Hoang was able to make 73% of first serves, Berankis ripped him apart in his return games, converting 4/7 break points to cruise to the win. This win takes him to 104 in the world, coveting a return into the top 100 soon.

Burnie, Australia- Canadian Steven Diez took home his maiden ATP Challenger title at the third try in his career, defeating Aussie home favorite Maverick Banes 7-5, 6-1. Diez, who was able to enter the tournament due to his ITF ranking, which is 32nd in the world, will move up over 100 spots to 307 in the ATP. The Aussie swing continues this week in Launceston, Tasmania.

Punta del Este champion Thiago Monteiro.

Punta del Este, Uruguay- Thiago Monteiro was able to overcome a determined Facundo Arguello 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to capture his second Challenger title, and first since Aix-en-Provence in 2016. It was a very strong week from the Brazilian, navigating tough competition such as Gianluigi Quinzi and Gonzalo Lama, without dropping a set until Sunday’s final. However, Arguello came out punching in the first, with Thiago able to reel the match back to his control for the second and third sets. He will rise up to 107 in the world, the second winner this week to near the Top 100 once again.

Next Week- Challengers continue in Cleveland, USA, Quimper, France, and Launceston, Australia.

ATP Challenger Midweek Update- January 21

With four tournaments on the Challenger slate this week, including the first ATP 125 of the season, we take an inside look of how the week has shaped up in each tournament.

Burnie (80)Q

(16) Jay Clarke (GBR) vs. (10) Stefano Napolitano (ITA)

(WC) Harry Bourchier (AUS) vs. Steven Diez (CAN)

(5) Kamil Majchrzak vs. Sebastian Fanselow (GER)

(9) Stephane Robert vs. Maverick Banes (AUS)

Reactions-

Lots of upsets, including Clarke demolishing Basic in R3. This is a good chance for someone to get going on the warm weather swing on hard courts here.
Tasmanian native Harry Bourchier makes a QF! He definitely has a winnable match here, we will see what he can do.

Newport Beach (125)

(1) Taylor Fritz (USA) vs. (7) Miomir Kecmanovic (SER)

Enzo Couacaud (FRA) vs. (12) Darian King (BAR)

(6) Jason Jung (TPE) vs. (16) Brayden Schnur (CAN)

Donald Young (USA) vs. Colin Altamirano (USA)

Reactions-

Taylor Fritz has gotten off to a good start here, especially after saving match points against Giron (R2). Tough test against the Serb next.
Unseeded bottom quarter, with Young winning against Rubin and Altamirano winning against Lloyd Harris. Looks like someone can jumpstart their season here.

Punta del Este (80)

Emilio Gomez (ECU) vs. (10) Kimmer Coppejans (BEL)

(4) Thiago Monteiro (BRA) vs. (7) Gianluigi Quinzi (ITA)

(6) Facundo Bagnis (ARG) vs. (3) Hugo Dellien (BOL)

(11) Facundo Arguello (ARG) vs. (2) Juan Ignacio Londero (ARG)

Reactions-

Lots of Argentinians have played well so far, adding three quarterfinalists to the mix. However, top seed Guido Andreozzi was dumped out by Gomez last round.
Lots of seeds advance, not just due to good performances by them, but also by a lackluster group of unseeded players. Not enough talent here yet.

Rennes (90)

(14) Antoine Hoang (FRA) vs. (6) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)

(15) Corentin Moutet (FRA) vs. (8) Quentin Halys (FRA)

(5) Elias Ymer (SWE) vs. (4) Ricardas Berankis (LTU)

(7) Yannick Maden (GER) vs. (2) Benoit Paire (FRA)

Reactions-

Paire, even with his lack of effort and lots of interesting stunts on the court, has still made the quarters, where he faces German Yannick Maden.
Young guns Ymer and Moutet have put together good runs, where they could continue on.

Check back on Sunday for full final reviews of each tournament, and for all the latest tennis news and updates!

Koblenz Challenger Review-

Gianluca Mager (ITA) captured his first ATP Challenger title in Koblenz, Germany this weekend, defeating Ruben Ortega-Olmedo 2-6, 6-7(6), 6-2.

The Italian bounced back from a rough first set to calmly dismiss the Spaniard and claim his best result ever on the tour. Mager will climb to a career high ranking of 219 on Monday, while the 27 year old Ortega Olmedo will move up 48 spots to 285 in the world.

Next Week-

The Challenger Tour will make stops in Burnie, Punta del Este, Rennes, and Newport Beach.

Burnie’s field is led by young guns Lloyd Harris, Marc Polmans, and near-upsetee of Kei Nishikori in Melbourne, Kamil Majchrzak.

Punta del Este will host top seed Guido Andreozzi, and off a career year last year, Hugo Delien.

Rennes will have established ATP tour players Benoit Paire, Adrian Mannarino, and young Canadian Felix Auger- Aliassime in the field.

Newport Beach will host the first Oracle Challenger Series event of the year, with Americans Taylor Fritz, Bradley Klahn, and Mackenzie McDonald leading the charge.

As always, make sure to subscribe to our email list for constant updates of the Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour!

Koblenz Challenger Update

While the Australian Open has been captivating much of the tennis world over the past week, there has still been some minor league tennis going on in Koblenz, Germany for the 80 point challenger. Taking a look at the quarterfinalists, we see a young Swede who has started the year very well, and a lot of unseeded players.

The site of the 2019 Koblenz Open, held indoors.

Quarterfinalists-

(14) Tallon Griekspoor (NED) vs Kaichi Uchida (JPN)

(3) Alexey Vatutin (RUS) vs Gianluca Mager (ITA)

Carlos Taberner (ESP) vs Pavel Kotov (RUS)

(7) Mikael Ymer (SWE) vs Ruben Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)

Prediction-

Even though Ymer has fought through two tough matches (d. Piros, d. Safullin), he should still have enough in the tank, combined with his wonderful form and the fast hard courts of Koblenz, to win his half. While the other half will most likely come down to Griekspoor or Vatutin, Ymer should go home with his second title of the year.

Score Prediction- Ymer d. Vatutin (6-1, 4-6, 6-3)

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