It was an extremely dramatic final in Cary as Mattia Bellucci wasted two match points against Roman Safiullin and missed an opportunity for a Top 100 debut. Meanwhile, Damir Dzumhur is the first player to grab four ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2024. Another player getting plenty of momentum ahead of US Open qualifying was Marc-Andrea Huesler, who claimed his first trophy at any level since ATP 250 Sofia two years ago. Read up on last week’s action:
Santo Domingo
A qualifying loss at a big event on green clay had to be very disappointing for Andres Andrade, considering how good he is on courts like this (Savannah Challenger final and M25 Pensacola title this year alone). Despite blowing a 6-3 5-2 lead against Mariano Kestelboim, the Ecuadorian received a lucky loser opportunity and made the most of it. He took out the top seed Federico Coria and fourth seed Laslo Djere, the latter in an incredible 2-6 7-6 7-6 thriller.
The 2015 champion and 2017 runner-up Damir Dzumhur made his fourth Santo Domingo appearance. The Bosnian returned to the Top 100 this year after three Challenger titles on European clay (Barletta, Ostrava, Zagreb). But stabilizing in that group only became possible with another huge run as he defeated Dmitry Popko from a set down, before beating Renzo Olivo in a rematch of the 2015 final. Dzumhur earned his chance to become the 1st player to grab a 4th Challenger title this season.
Andrade just didn’t have all that much to hurt Dzumhur with off the ground and had to grant the veteran plenty of time to dictate. That’s where the Bosnian is at his strongest and despite being a bit up and down, he closed down the net and introduced his variety well for the most part. That was enough to earn him his 12th Challenger title 6-4 6-4 and the points should let him stabilize in the Top 100 again. He’ll play US Open qualifying next, while Andrade withdrew from Jinan and it’s unclear when he’ll return to action.
Cary
Roman Safiullin made his third Challenger Tour appearance of the season, first below the Challenger 175 level (Phoenix round one, Aix-en-Provence semifinals). With the stacked draw in Cary, the top seed had to battle right away with third-setters against Matteo Gigante and Terence Atmane. The Frenchman even briefly led him by a break in the deciding set as Safiullin cleaned up his act later in the week, dispatching Christopher Eubanks and David Goffin.
Mattia Bellucci had to start in the qualifying draw in Cary, even though his current ranking would have almost been enough to get him a main draw seed. The Italian has been on fire in the last few weeks though and delivered six straight-set wins in a row despite a strong line-up to make the final. Neither of his first six opponents was even able to get him to a tie-break as Bellucci secured the opportunity to play for his Top 100 debut on Saturday.
Bellucci was taking the game out of Safiullin’s hands for about an hour, completely dominating play against an aggressive opponent. After leading 6-1 4-1 he eventually earned two match points on return at 5-4, but he let the top seed back into it. An experienced player like Safiullin smelled blood and was ruthless all the way until having to serve it out himself. It took eight attempts with his legs not cooperating anymore in the last game, but he claimed his 5th Challenger title 1-6 7-5 7-5 and denied Bellucci his Top 100 debut. Both players will head to US Open qualifying now.
Kozerki
Vit Kopriva had a huge window to push for his Top 100 debut in the first half of the season, but didn’t gather enough points in all the main tour events he played. The Czech was one of the few players about to feature in US Open qualifying who chose Kozerki as their warm-up event. As the top seed, he managed to beat two Poles (Martyn Pawelski and Filip Peliwo) before dominating in deciding sets against Norbert Gombos and Hazem Naw to make his first Challenger hard court final.
Marc-Andrea Huesler made the semifinals in Zug a couple of weeks before Kozerki and also chose this event as high last stop before US Open qualifying. The Swiss was in dominant form right away, not losing serve until his eighth set of the event. Playing more composed and disciplined off the ground, he was able to take down his friend Dominic Stricker in the quarterfinals and then the recent Segovia champion Antoine Escoffier. He made his first final at any level since ATP 250 Sofia in 2022.
Kopriva wasn’t consistent enough off the ground in the opening set and with the serve difference in this matchup, that’s something he just couldn’t afford. Everything was going wrong for him until the last two service games of Huesler and three break points he generated. One of them the Swiss saved with an incredible backhand pass, on another the Czech had a brilliant dropshot opportunity and messed it up. Huesler claimed his 6th Challenger title 6-1 6-4 (1st on hard courts after 4 on clay and 1 on carpet). Both players will now have a short turnaround before appearing at US Open qualifying.
Todi
Carlos Taberner produced his best result of the season in Cordenons the week before Todi, losing to Vilius Gaubas in the final. The gas tank was running a bit short at some points during this run, but he stood strong in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon with Luka Pavlovic (despite the Frenchman serving for the win twice). Recovery went well and he dispatched top-seeded Stefano Travaglia from 4-6 0-2 down in the semifinals to earn himself another title opportunity.
It had been a while since Santiago Rodriguez Taverna had a flash of brilliance with just one semifinal in 2024 (Santos). Not much was suggesting this week would be the turning point until he defeated second seed Filip Cristian Jianu in the opening round. The Argentinian is a confidence player and he was able to use that extra boost to keep working towards the Todi final. A gritty win over Cezar Cretu earned him the right to play in a Challenger final again after 16 months (Barletta 2023).
Taberner’s default playstyle of hitting deep into the opponent’s backhand corner is very effective in this matchup and he used that to his advantage. The only thing he had to be careful with was not letting Rodriguez Taverna run around too easily. Luckily for him, he played it pretty smart and used the deep backhand of the Argentine to open up the court for himself and then go after the forehand. Taberner claimed his 7th Challenger title 6-4 6-3 and withdrew from Dobrich next week after the two long runs. Rodriguez Taverna is expected to be the top seed at a 25K ITF in Maribor.
Events held this week:
- IZIDA by Genesis Trading Cup (Dobrich, Challenger 50, clay)
- Jinan Open (Challenger 50, hard)
There will be no Top 100 players in action (Top 100 players cannot enter Challenger 50 draws unless they’re from the host country and receive a pre-approved ATP wild card).
First-round matches to watch:
Dobrich
- (4) Gabriel Debru vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri
- (6) Cezar Cretu vs (WC) Petr Nesterov
Jinan
- Stefanos Sakellaridis vs (WC) Yibing Wu
- Evgeny Donskoy vs (2) Yan Bai
