Hugo Gaston claimed 200 points in just two weeks by winning back-to-back Challenger titles in Iasi and Trieste. Meanwhile, his namesake Hugo Grenier was the champion in Pozoblanco. Maximilian Marterer and Sumit Nagal continued their good form in recent weeks/months. In Granby, Alexis Galarneau won a trophy at this level for the very first time. Let’s look back on last week’s action:
Granby
Despite playing the Challenger Tour almost exclusively in the first half of the year, Alexis Galarneau only made one semifinal, in Tyler. The Canadian wasn’t far from going out in the opening round in Granby, briefly going down a break to Omar Jasika. This close call seemed to loosen up Galarneau as the 24-year-old beat his next three opponents in straights to secure the second Challenger final of his career (after Winnipeg around this time last year).
Philip Sekulic made the quarterfinals in Burnie at the beginning of the year and didn’t play another Challenger until Granby, making two ITF finals in the meantime. He qualified for the main draw and went 6-7 0-3 down to Yasutaka Uchiyama, before turning it into a potentially career-changing run. The 19-year-old scored a great win over Denis Kudla and defeated James Kent Trotter in an all-qualifier matchup in the semifinals.
Galarneau was clearly the fresher player, but Sekulic managed to get himself going eventually and had moments when he was bullying his opponent with the biggest weapon on the court – his forehand. However, the Canadian’s movement and anticipation came in clutch for him like usual, drawing the errors and extending the rallies. Galarneau claimed his maiden Challenger title 6-4 3-6 6-3, which pretty much secures his US Open qualifying spot. Because of this run he had to withdraw from Atlanta qualifying, while Sekulic picked up a special exempt for Salinas.
Trieste
Hugo Gaston won Iasi the week before Trieste and entered the main draw on a special exempt. Playing with new-found focus and motivation since his retirement win over Miljan Zekic in round one in Romania, he was able to extend the win streak to nine. Roman Andres Burruchaga, Kyrian Jacquet, and Pedro Martinez all forced the Frenchman to a deciding set, but he was quick to find the response on every occasion.
With just two Challenger semifinals for the year, Francesco Passaro wasn’t really following up on his great 2022 campaign that made everyone think he’d be breaking the Top 100 soon. This run was very important for him then and he did it navigating through a really tough draw. Dino Prizmic, Guido Andreozzi, and Fabian Marozsan. Against the Hungarian, he was down 3-6 2-4 when the match was suspended due to darkness and finished on Sunday (Passaro won 3-6 7-5 6-2).
The last two weeks Gaston has been remaining composed and keeping his focus, which has been vital in all his success. Passaro kept fighting though and forced the match to a decider. But after playing half of his semifinal earlier that day, the Italian just didn’t have much left in the tank. Gaston kept striking his forehand beautifully and ended up taking his 3rd Challenger title 6-3 5-7 6-2, picking up 200 points in two weeks. Both players intend to play in Verona next with the Frenchman picking up another special exempt.
Amersfoort
In seven previous Challenger appearances this season, Maximilian Marterer was yet to progress past the quarterfinals. The German found some amazing form in Amersfoort though, stopping the up-and-coming Jakub Mensik in the second round and crushing Michael Geerts in the quarterfinals. He made it to the final not dropping a set and took out Rudolf Molleker in a match of this week’s ATP 500 Hamburg main draw wildcards (they’ll actually have an early rematch in the opening round).
Titouan Droguet had already made two Challenger finals this year, losing to Giulio Zeppieri in Cherbourg and Emilio Nava in Modena (missed two match points). After the latter event, he took a couple weeks of break and didn’t play again until Amersfoort. The Frenchman dropped just one set on his quest to make back-to-back finals, falling down 0-3 in the 3rd against Alec Deckers (Richard Krajicek’s son), winning the next six games.
Marterer’s forehand was amazing the whole week and it really made the difference in Sunday’s final. Droguet’s combination of big serve and solid grounstrokes can mess up some players, but if you have enough quality on your shots you should be fine. By maintaning the level that he had been playing at recently, Marterer claimed his 8th Challenger title (first since November 2020) 6-4 6-2. He has the aforementioned Hamburg wildcard now, while Droguet heads over to Verona.
Pozoblanco
Down 3-6 5-6 30-40 against Ryan Peniston in the opening round, Juan Pablo Ficovich wasn’t actually in control of the point and had to rely on the Brit missing a backhand down-the-line. Down to World No. 362 prior to Pozoblanco, the Argentinian really needed this run, but it was no bed of roses. After dealing with Peniston, he also survived thrillers with Cem Ilkel and Daniel Cukierman to eventually make his 2nd Challenger final of the season.
Spanish Challengers on hard courts have been a very happy hunting ground for Hugo Grenier with a final in Alicante, titles in Segovia and Las Franquesas del Valles, and now this run in Pozoblanco. The Frenchman beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 in the decider in the opening round and went on to make another final on a Spanish hard court by taking out Alejandro Moro Canas in the final four to make his 2nd championship match of the year.
Grenier was fully engaged in his big serve/pushing mode, for better or worse. Ficovich was the one having to create the points and for what it’s worth, he was doing pretty excellent and often coming up with great forehand shotmaking and clutch serving. But eventually, Grenier got a bit more active towards the end (right in time) to clinch his 5th Challenger title (3rd in Spain) 6-7 6-2 7-6. Both finalists are supposed to play in Segovia next.
Tampere
Just a few months ago, Sumit Nagal was outside the top 500 and only saved his ranking thanks to a couple of well-used wildcards in the Indian Challenger swing. Back then, potentially making the US Open qualifying seemed like a fever dream. But thanks to his Rome title and then the final in Tampere, it became possible along with a top 200 return. On the way to the final, Nagal survived a crazy match with Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, his opponent being up a break five times in the deciding set and serving for the win twice.
Dalibor Svrcina had won just one match in his next three Challengers after triumphing in Prostejov a month earlier. Surviving a tough matchup with Filip Cristian Jianu in the opening round proved to be vital as the Czech clawed his way back from 1-3 down in the deciding set. Svrcina went on to eliminate players like Lukas Klein and Henri Squire, excelling in matchups against big-serving aggressive ballstrikers, whom he really enjoys playing against.
Svrcina’s game wasn’t as effective against Nagal though. After going down 1-4, the Indian started constructing his points better and aiming for bigger targets, in turn making his opponent have to risk more. Despite some wobbles when trying to close it out, Nagal claimed his 3rd Challenger title (2nd this year) 6-4 7-5. Both players will stay on the Challenger Tour this week – the runner-up in Zug, the champion in Verona.
Challenger Tour magic:
NO WAY 🤯
Tweener perfection from @ArthurCazaux in Granby 👏#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/2WHbDGiMdT
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 17, 2023
Events held this week:
- Finaport Zug Open (Challenger 125, clay)
- Internazionali di Tennis Verona (Challenger 100, clay)
- Open Castilla y Leon (Seville, Challenger 100, hard)
- Challenger de Salinas (Challenger 75, hard)
- President’s Cup (Astana, Challenger 50, hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Arthur Rinderknech (Zug)
- Marton Fucsovics (Segovia)
First-round matches to watch:
Zug
- (3) Jurij Rodionov vs Hamad Medjedovic
- (WC) Kilian Feldbausch vs (4) Fabio Fognini
- Joris De Loore vs (2) Dominic Stricker
Verona
- (4) Benoit Paire vs Guido Andreozzi
- (5) Francesco Passaro vs Andrea Pellegrino
- (7) Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs Edoardo Lavagno
Seville
- Ryan Peniston vs (5) Mattia Bellucci
- (8) Ricardas Berankis vs (WC) George Loffhagen
- Alejandro Moro Canas vs (3) Nicolas Moreno de Alboran
Salinas
- Li Tu vs (5) Dane Sweeny
- (7) Beibit Zhukayev vs (ALT) Pedro Boscardin Dias
Astana
- (1) Mikhail Kukushkin vs (PR) Evgenii Tiurnev
- (6) Yanki Erel vs (ALT) Zura Tkemaladze
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
