Challenger Circuit

[TennisFanatic7]

Had a quick search and couldn't find a thread for Challengers, sorry if I missed it somewhere, go ahead and delete/merge this if so.

I just thought it would be a good idea given that there seems to be a fair few of us who are interested in tracking the progress of some of the up and comers.

 

[Billie]

That is a good idea. I only follow Serbian guys on the challenger levels, I am afraid. Don't have time to really follow them as much as I just read the news about their success or failure.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Our young lad Kyle Edmund took the first set 6-4 vs. Menendez-Maceiras, but it went downhill from there and he lost in a third set tie break. Another Brit, Brydan Klein, who qualified for this event (Segovia), lost to top seed Mannarino 62 76 in the QFs too.

Better news comes from the Vancouver Challenger, where Vasek Pospisil won last year ahead of his semi final runs at the Canada Masters and Basel, where James Ward defeated Kokkinakis in straight sets to reach the semi finals where he faces Dustov. Sadly, this is a pretty big result by the standards of British tennis....

 

[TennisFanatic7]

So the contenders this week at SF stage are:

Vancouver (100 pts)
M Baghdatis (1)/T Daniel vs R Bemelmans
F Dustov (4) vs J Ward (6)

Cortina (90 pts)
Gimeno-Traver (1) vs V Troicki (Q)
F Krajinovic (7) vs Y Reuter/R Marcora

Segovia (90 pts)
A Mannarino (1) vs M Chiudinelli (5)
A Menendez-Maceiras (8) vs A Kudratsev (2)

Liberec (80 pts)
T Yang vs H Zeballos (4)
A Martin vs B Rola (2)

Worth noting that in Liberec, Steve Darcis is continuing to return to action but lost in the quarter-finals to Andrej Martin 1-6 7-5 6-4, and that Tsung-Hua Yang knocked off recent double ATP 250 titlist Pablo Cuevas 7-5 6-1 in the second round.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Winners last week:

Baghdatis in Aptos, California (d. Kukushkin)
Adrian Ungur in San Marino (d. Veic)
Schwartzman in Prague (d. Ghem)

Baghdatis moves comfortably into the top 100 after some big challenger wins this year and Schwartzman moves to a career high ranking with his third challenger title.

 

[Front242]

Veic knocked out Troicki in the quarters of San Marino I believe so he (Troicki) has more work to do gain more points.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Aye, Troicki is at 410 in the latest rankings, looks like he's having this week off.

 

[Front242]

^ Probably wise. He's played quite a bit since he came back. Gotta ease the body in gradually. Don't want to get burnt out.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

There are five challengers in play this week!

Szczecin (Clay) - I believe Christian Garin is a name of interest on these boards - he got through his first match in straight sets and faces Nedovyesov in the second round.

Banja Luka (Clay) - Troicki watch! He's now ranked at 238 again and is in the second round of this tournament.

Istanbul (Hard) - I'll be keeping an eye on Britain's James Ward who won his first round match. Alex Zverev is also in action, he faces Jimmy Wang in R2.

Seville (Clay) - Pablo Carreno Busta feeling the need to play this one, looks like a field he should crush really, he is in action right now, a set up in his opening match.

Biella (Clay) - It looks like Golubev and Paire were down to play this one but the only player I really recognise on the drawsheet is Volandri.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There are five challengers in play this week!

Szczecin (Clay) - I believe Christian Garin is a name of interest on these boards - he got through his first match in straight sets and faces Nedovyesov in the second round.

Banja Luka (Clay) - Troicki watch! He's now ranked at 238 again and is in the second round of this tournament.

Istanbul (Hard) - I'll be keeping an eye on Britain's James Ward who won his first round match. Alex Zverev is also in action, he faces Jimmy Wang in R2.

Seville (Clay) - Pablo Carreno Busta feeling the need to play this one, looks like a field he should crush really, he is in action right now, a set up in his opening match.

Biella (Clay) - It looks like Golubev and Paire were down to play this one but the only player I really recognise on the drawsheet is Volandri.

Murray is playing in which one of these five?

 

[TennisFanatic7]

There are five challengers in play this week!

Szczecin (Clay) - I believe Christian Garin is a name of interest on these boards - he got through his first match in straight sets and faces Nedovyesov in the second round.

Banja Luka (Clay) - Troicki watch! He's now ranked at 238 again and is in the second round of this tournament.

Istanbul (Hard) - I'll be keeping an eye on Britain's James Ward who won his first round match. Alex Zverev is also in action, he faces Jimmy Wang in R2.

Seville (Clay) - Pablo Carreno Busta feeling the need to play this one, looks like a field he should crush really, he is in action right now, a set up in his opening match.

Biella (Clay) - It looks like Golubev and Paire were down to play this one but the only player I really recognise on the drawsheet is Volandri.

Murray is playing in which one of these five?

Lost in qualifying for Istanbul, bummer

 

[herios]

There are sometimes challengers, where the top 100 players choose to play, instead of the main tour, even on a week, when smaller 250 events were scheduled.
This week, in Orleans, a very impressive field got together:
check this out:
Seeds:
Kohlschreiber
Sijsling
Vesely
Kuznetsov
Bellucci
Stakhovsky
Mathieu
Mahut

With the exception of Mahut. all the others are top 100 at the moment, and Mahut is barely out (105).
Also in the field Dustin Brown , de Schepper (104) and A. Zverev.

Now, this event was going to be a tussle, but I never imagined Kohlschreiber would be eliminated in the first round, by another German player I have never heard about: Puetz 7-6, 6-1!!.
Zverev has drawn in the first round second seed Sijsling, and also lost right away.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Semi finals of this week -

Orleans: Mathieu (7) v Bellucci (5) & Stakhovsky (6) v Vesely (3)

Napa: Querrey (1) v Bolt & Donaldson v Smyczek (2)

Sibiu: Starace (7) v Kubler & Albot v Riba (3)

Kenitra final: Ramos-Vinolas (1) v Gimeno-Traver (3)

Pereira: Estrella Burgos (1) v Munoz-De La Nava & Souza (5) v Velotti

Porto Alegre: Andreozzi (6) v Schwartzman (2) & Berlocq (1) v Mina

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

I didn't see this challenger thread before.

last week sept 21st..borna coric won his first event at this level in turkey.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Nice one for the youngster

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

german 17yr old alexander zverev (sf hamburg atp500), is in the QF of a challenger, defeats the dreadlocked warrior dustin brown on Wednesday.

Christian garin lost on Tuesday ..in a different challenger (last 16). also played last week also reaching last 16. (32players).

..of the 3 young guns am keeping track of :idea: garin is oldest at 18yrs 4m and worst rank at 299(?),
borna coric age 17yrs 11m is 141 rank, alex zverev 17yrs 6m is rank around 150ish.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

James Ward contends the Traralgon 2 final tonight. If he wins he'll be into the top 100 for the first time in his career and there will be two Great British players in the top 100 for the first time - I believe - since Tim Henman dropped out in late 2007.

 

[herios]

This week in Sao Paulo, the Challenger tour finals takes place on indoor clay ...Rafa"s dream, perhaps next year he should play more on the challenger tour so he can add this type of trophy to his collection

Anyways, the event is similar top YEC in London, 2 groups of 4 player each, 7 qualified and one WC :

Group A: Bolelli, Estrella-Burgos, Haider-Maurer, Maximo Gonzalez
Group B: Schwatzman, Rola, J. Sousa, Clezar (WC)

 

[Front242]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out by Viktor Troicki is currently at world number 99 so he'll get main draw entry at the AO if he stays around this mark.

 

[herios]

Not sure if anyone pointed this out by Viktor Troicki is currently at world number 99 so he'll get main draw entry at the AO if he stays around this mark.

He is now listed at 102, tied to fellow serbian Krajinovic, in points who is listed at 101.
Soeda, Ito and Berankis playing in challengers this week all vaulted over Vikor into the top 100.