Martin Landaluce claimed the title in Olbia, leaving Mattia Bellucci just outside the Top 100 and becoming the third player born in 2006 to win a Challenger Tour event. Meanwhile, Mackenzie McDonald and Benjamin Bonzi continued their runs of great form as they attempt to make it back to the top of the sport.
Tristan Boyer won an altitude clay event again, while Calgary was the stage for two college tennis talents to shine in the pros for the first time. Read up on last week’s action:
Challenger Tour Recap
Olbia
Martin Landaluce has been knocking at the door of a Challenger final all season, losing in four semifinals before Olbia (and to very strong opposition – Mikhail Kukushkin, Hugo Dellien, Hamad Medjedovic, Kamil Majchrzak). This event finally provided the breakthrough as the 2022 US Open boys’ singles champion crushed Harold Mayot in the opening round before beating three Italians in a row, only dropping one set to Andrea Vavassori and winning his semifinal on Sunday (due to rain) in just 61 minutes.
Mattia Bellucci secured himself another shot at breaking the Top 100 when he made the final, but he had to work so much harder to get there than Landaluce did. His quarterfinal against Constant Lestienne was delayed until Saturday and played indoors, still lasting 3 hours and 45 minutes. To make matters worse, the Italian found himself in another indoor battle with Svrcina on Sunday afternoon, lasting 2 hours and 58 minutes. It was unclear whether, after these ordeals, he’d still have enough fuel to compete later that day.
Bellucci still gave a commendable effort, but he was just in shape to compete with Landaluce if the Spaniard just stayed solid. The 18-year-old played within himself and was slowly moving towards the finish line, breaking at 5-4 in each set to claim his maiden Challenger title 6-4 6-4. He became the 3rd 2006-born player to raise a trophy at this level after Joel Schwaerzler (Skopje) and Joao Fonseca (Lexington). This victory also takes him up to No. 8 on the Race to Jeddah (Next Gen ATP Finals) and he’ll try to boost his chances for qualification in Brest next, where Bellucci is also in the draw.
Campinas
Tristan Boyer has been looking really strong for the past two months or so, making five quarterfinals and three semifinals in his last six Challenger Tour events. That included the final in Las Vegas and the American was able to reach another one on a different surface. After surviving long battles with Juan Bautista Torres and Santiago Rodriguez Taverna, Boyer also defeated Juan Carlos Prado Angelo and Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who retired at match point down.
Juan Pablo Ficovich came into Campinas on three consecutive losses in a row, but the Argentinian often finds his game right away in altitude conditions. This time he was forced to come back from 3-5 down in the deciding set to Mateus Alves in the opening round, surviving that encounter and getting a streak of pretty amazing wins over Francisco Comesana, Roman Andres Burruchaga, and Alvaro Guillen Meza. Ficovich made his fourth Challenger Tour final of the season, 3rd at altitude.
Boyer dominated the opening set and was forcing Ficovich to react a lot more than usual. But that doesn’t mean things had to keep going smoothly, especially with his execution at the net falling apart for a pretty significant patch of play. The American still had the upper hand though and from 1-3 down in the deciding set, was able to choose his spots to attack a bit more wisely. Boyer claimed his 2nd Challenger title 6-2 3-6 6-3, interestingly winning both by beating Ficovich (Merida). Both finalists are appearing in another altitude event in Curitiba this week.
Shenzhen
Arthur Cazaux is trying to find some rhythm again, losing in the quarterfinals in Nonthaburi and Hangzhou recently. As the top seed in Shenzhen, the Frenchman was only pushed by 18-year-old Tianhui Zhang in the second round, upping his groundstroke depth around the opening set tie-break to swing the match in his favor. On the way to the final, he also defeated two other Chinese players and his compatriot Arthur Weber.
Going for back-to-back finals can be pretty tricky and Mackenzie McDonald was pushed by Thomas Fancutt in the opening round, finally dominating the deciding set. That allowed the American to get his rhythm going as he didn’t even get broken in his next three matches. By defeating Adam Walton on Saturday, McDonald made his 3rd consecutive final (in 4 weeks) after losing to Tung-lin Wu in Nonthaburi and James Duckworth in Hangzhou.
McDonald hadn’t been broken since the opening round and he was able to maintain that. Cazaux’s baseline game was still quite rich in quality as it was the entire week, but the American did a slightly better job pressuring him on return and taking the ball earlier. It was perhaps even a bit more comfortable than the scoreline suggests with McDonald claiming his fourth Challenger title 6-4 7-6(4). He’s back to within about 100 points from returning to the Top 100 now and will try to keep going in Taipei this week, while Cazaux returns to Europe to likely return at the ATP 1000 in Paris.
Calgary
Govind Nanda‘s best result at a Challenger was a semifinal in Cary back in 2022. The American is restarting his pro career after his college career for UCLA now but hasn’t gotten through the main draw round one in his seven appearances at this level this year so far. That all changed in Calgary, as after qualifying, the 23-year-old pulled off three impressive wins in a row—over James Kent Trotter, Maks Kasnikowski (saved 2 match points on return), and defending champion Liam Draxl.
Murphy Cassone had reached a Challenger quarterfinal in Little Rock in 2022 already, but the Arizona State star didn’t repeat that success for the next two years of his limited pro activity. In Calgary, he had to start from the qualifying before beating Ryan Seggerman 15-13 in the final set tie-break in the first round of the main draw (saved 5 match points). That wasn’t even the craziest match on Cassone’s route to his first Challenger Tour final, with the quarterfinal against Alexis Galarneau lasting 3 hours and 42 minutes.
It was always going to be an interesting clash of styles, and after the opening set, it seemed like Nanda’s speed and pace absorption would be way more than enough to get Cassone to miss. However, the Arizona State star was a bit more patient in waiting for his opportunities and started outlasting his opponent more and more in the backhand trades. Cassone claimed his maiden Challenger title 4-6 6-3 6-4 and will jump over 200 spots inside the Top 400. Both finalists grabbed a special exempt into Sioux Falls.
St. Brieuc
Lucas Pouille made his third consecutive Challenger final after Saint-Tropez (lost to Gijs Brouwer) and Mouilleron-le-Captif (defeated Quentin Halys). This run allowed him to secure his Top 100 return after over three years, having fallen to World No. 678 in the meantime (May 2023). Pouille lost his opening set of the week to 2-time St. Brieuc champion Ricardas Berankis, but recovered the deficit and won his remaining matches more comfortably.
Benjamin Bonzi won his 10th Challenger title in Roanne the week before St. Brieuc and showed absolutely no intent to slow down. Despite starting from a seemingly tricky matchup against Dino Prizmic, the Frenchman went on to win four matches in a row without even getting to a tie-break. Neither Prizmic, Hazem Naw, Calvin Hemery, or Gregorie Barrere were able to manage more than four games in a set. Bonzi, who once won three Challengers in three weeks in 2021, is tough to stop when on a roll.
But despite going for back-to-back finals, it wasn’t Bonzi who arrived a bit fatigued in the final. Pouille was all over the place with his attacks, and his compatriot turned on a vintage mode reminiscent of his 2021 success, which was how he turned defense into offense. Bonzi never got close to dropping his serve as he claimed his 11th Challenger Tour title 6-2 6-3, winning 10 matches in 13 days alongside the run in Roanne. The champion will try to keep going in Brest now, while Pouille decided to withdraw from that event and take the week off.
Challenger Tour magic:
Dougaz wasn’t able to make his first Challenger final (0-3 in SFs now), but leaves Calgary with this amazing tweener! That down-the-line corridor was narrow
📷: @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/digYiwRw0S— Damian Kust (@damiankust) October 19, 2024
Events held this week:
- 2024 Taipei OEC Open (Challenger 125, indoor hard)
- Brest Open Groupe Vert (Challenger 100, indoor hard)
- Copa Internacional de Tenis, Presented by Santander (Curitiba, Challenger 100, clay)
- City of Playford Tennis International (Challenger 75, hard)
- Marketbeat Open (Sioux Falls, Challenger 75, indoor hard)
Top 100 players in action:
- Aleksandar Vukic, Taro Daniel (Taipei)
- Hugo Gaston (Brest)
- Rinky Hijikata, Thanasi Kokkinakis (Playford)
First-round matches to watch:
Taipei
- (WC) Hyeon Chung vs (7) Yasutaka Uchiyama
- Yu-hsiou Hsu vs Yosuke Watanuki
Brest
- (1) Hugo Gaston vs Benjamin Bonzi
- Joao Fonseca vs Kamil Majchrzak
Curitiba
- Karue Sell vs (7) Henrique Rocha
- (6) Juan Manuel Cerundolo vs Juan Pablo Varillas
Playford
- Aleksandre Bakshi vs (3) Shintaro Mochizuki
- (6) Li Tu vs Saba Purtseladze
Sioux Falls
- (4) Maks Kasnikowski vs (WC) Kyle Edmund
- (WC) Colton Smith vs Martin Damm
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – USA TODAY Sports
