Why not, let's pay attention to Challengers too...

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
You forgot

Parma, Italy

and

Fergana, Uzbekistan

This week:
  • Ilkley: Ugo Humbert, Marius Copil, Denis Istomin, Yannick Maden, Marcel Granollers, Jiří Veselý, Thiago Monteiro, Dennis Novak, Salvatore Caruso, Mikael Ymer.
  • Bratislava: Martin Kližan, Henri Laaksonen, Corentin Moutet, Jozef Kovalík, Andrej Martin, Blaž Rola, Attila Balázs.
  • Blois: Pedro Sousa, Pedro Martínez, Lorenzo Giustino, Kimmer Coppejans, Carlos Berlocq, Daniel Elahi Galán, Federico Coria, Facundo Argüello.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The Dane teen Rune won his first ever pro match today in Blois just a bit more than a week after winning RG Boys singles. He is barely 16 years old.
 

NaBUru38

Rookie
This week:

  • Ričardas Berankis, Steve Johnson, Brayden Schnur, Malek Jaziri, Thiago Monteiro, Damir Džumhur, Evgeny Donskoy, Dominik Köpfer, Ernests Gulbis, Jason Jung, Alex Bolt.
  • Cordenons: Paolo Lorenzi, Andrej Martin, Attila Balázs, Emil Ruusuvuori, Alejandro Tabilo, Blaž Kavčič, Aleksandar Vukic, Gonçalo Oliveira.
  • Meerbusch: Pedro Sousa, Jay Clarke, Peđa Krstin, Tristan Lamasine, José Hernández-Fernández, Roberto Ortega, Jan Choinski, Thomaz Bellucci.
  • Portoroz: Aljaž Bedene, Lorenzo Giustino, Blaž Rola, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Filip Horanský, Constant Lestienne, Alexey Vatutin, Roman Safiullin.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
This week:

  • Vancouver Ričardas Berankis, Steve Johnson, Brayden Schnur, Malek Jaziri, Thiago Monteiro, Damir Džumhur, Evgeny Donskoy, Dominik Köpfer, Ernests Gulbis, Jason Jung, Alex Bolt.
  • Cordenons: Paolo Lorenzi, Andrej Martin, Attila Balázs, Emil Ruusuvuori, Alejandro Tabilo, Blaž Kavčič, Aleksandar Vukic, Gonçalo Oliveira.
  • Meerbusch: Pedro Sousa, Jay Clarke, Peđa Krstin, Tristan Lamasine, José Hernández-Fernández, Roberto Ortega, Jan Choinski, Thomaz Bellucci.
  • Portoroz: Aljaž Bedene, Lorenzo Giustino, Blaž Rola, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Filip Horanský, Constant Lestienne, Alexey Vatutin, Roman Safiullin.
Nice! FTFY, the one minor correction
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
This week:

  • Ričardas Berankis, Steve Johnson, Brayden Schnur, Malek Jaziri, Thiago Monteiro, Damir Džumhur, Evgeny Donskoy, Dominik Köpfer, Ernests Gulbis, Jason Jung, Alex Bolt.
  • Cordenons: Paolo Lorenzi, Andrej Martin, Attila Balázs, Emil Ruusuvuori, Alejandro Tabilo, Blaž Kavčič, Aleksandar Vukic, Gonçalo Oliveira.
  • Meerbusch: Pedro Sousa, Jay Clarke, Peđa Krstin, Tristan Lamasine, José Hernández-Fernández, Roberto Ortega, Jan Choinski, Thomaz Bellucci.
  • Portoroz: Aljaž Bedene, Lorenzo Giustino, Blaž Rola, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Filip Horanský, Constant Lestienne, Alexey Vatutin, Roman Safiullin.
Nice! FTFY, the one minor correction

I actually saw Berankis at the Montreal airport last Thursday, he was standing in the check-in line two spots ahead of me. I didn't recognize him quite fast enough to ask him where he was going.
 

NaBUru38

Rookie
Thread bump!
  • Orléans: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Ugo Humbert, Aljaz Bedene, Marius Copil, Corentin Moutet, Mikael Ymer.
  • Tiburon: Tommy Paul, Denis Kudla, Marcos Giron, Emilio Gómez, Mikael Torpegaard, Darian King.
  • Florence: Phillip Kohlschreiber, Martin Klizan, Jaume Munar, Salvatore Caruso, Andrej Martin, Paolo Lorenzi, Pedro Sousa.
  • Buenos Aires: Leonardo Mayer, Guido Andreozzi, Facundo Bagnis, Renzo Olivo, Hugo Dellien, Thiago Monteiro, Sumit Nagal, José Hernández Fernández.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Not sure why Tsonga is there, isn't he like #30 in the race and back in top 40 of rankings by now?
At draw date, he was #61 and barely edged out #2 seed Humbert. His Metz final opponent (and defending Orleans champion) Bedene is #3 so Orleans is a Challlenger with a 250 feel...even has a Challenge system on Center Court! Nice facilities, biggest Challenger point/prize fund and just down the autoroute from Metz.

A lot of the French and Belgian players inside top 100 play there every year.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Juan Pablo Varillas won his maiden challenger last week at Campinas (80 ATP point win) and is now in the semi finals at Santo Domingo which is a bigger 125 ATP point tourney. He's not blowing through 300 and 400 rank players either, some quality wins lately.

Recent Top-200 wins:
@Sibiu (09/16-09/22) Joao Domingues (#183)
@Buenos Aires (09/23-09/29) Hugo Dellien (#82)
@Campinas (09/30-10/06) Facundo Bagnis (#150), Federico Coria (#154)
@Santo Domingo (10/07-10/13) Federico Delbonis (#76), Facundo Bagnis again (#156)

Two more quality opponents await in the SF (Thiago Monteiro #104) and the final (Hugo Dellien again, #83, or Federico Coria again, #148). I just thought this was an interesting one to keep your eye on. He has improved his ranking from #401 on 09/09 to #206 live today. Semifinal win will put him in the upper 180s. Tourney win will put him in the lower 160s.
 

Pmasterfunk

Hall of Fame
11 straight challenger wins for Varillas. Straight setted Thiago Monteiro.
Still relatively young, at 24. I don't know of any other Peruvian players other than Luis Horna (I didn't know he was from Peru until just now), but if I would be so bold as to claim that Peru not being a historically strong tennis nation might point to a late bloomer?
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
I think he might be. I don't know how frequent back-to-back Challenger finals (or titles if he wins tomorrow) is, but it seems to be an indication that he's mentally worked some things out. Could just as easily be an odd, flukey outcome.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Campeonato Internacional de Tenis (Campinas, Brazil):
Tennis in South America is on the rise. The continent is steadily making progress on the professional scene, with Nicolas Jarry and Cristian Garin bringing Chile back into the spotlight and Hugo Dellien putting Bolivia on the map. On Sunday, it was Peru's turn to enter the fray.

Juan Pablo Varillas secured his nation's first Challenger crown in 11 years with his maiden title on the clay of Campinas. Appearing in his first final, he completed a dramatic 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 comeback over another first-time finalist - Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina. Varillas did not drop a set in five matches to reach the Campinas championship.

It was a very happy 24th birthday for Varillas, who became the first Peruvian champion since Luis Horna in Lugano in 2008. The Lima native is the fifth player from his country to lift a trophy, joining Horna, Ivan Miranda, Jose-Luis Noriega and Pablo Arraya.

"Before the match, I talked to my coach and remembered that the first time I came to Brazil, I was playing Challenger qualifying," said Varillas. "The matches were very hard and I never saw myself playing at this level. Four years later, winning a Challenger here is a result of hard work and continuing to fight even when things are not going well. I am very happy.

"My first set was really, really bad. I was nervous. I was hitting the ball hard all week, but today I was pushing it. Juan Pablo was really solid from the baseline and running a lot. It was a completely different match from the second set."

Sitting at No. 332 in the ATP Rankings entering the week, Varillas is projected to soar 94 spots to a career-high No. 238 on Monday.

Peruvian Challenger Champions

PlayerTournaments Won
Juan Pablo VarillasCampinas 2019
Luis HornaZagreb 2002, Furth 2002, Weiden 2002, Sevilla 2003, Bermuda 2004, Lugano 2008
Ivan MirandaSalinas 2002, Salinas 2008, Tunica Resorts 2008
Jose-Luis NoriegaCotia 1993
Pablo ArrayaSan Luis Potosi 1991

That's an extract from this. That article was written after Campinas and before this run in Santo Domingo.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
I think he might be. I don't know how frequent back-to-back Challenger finals (or titles if he wins tomorrow) is, but it seems to be an indication that he's mentally worked some things out. Could just as easily be an odd, flukey outcome.
The most recent and more lengthy Challenger run was David Goffin in 2014. After getting routed by Murray in 1R Wimby, he trudged back to the Challengers and won 3 of them in a row on Euroclay without dropping a set. The following week he entered Kitzbuhel ATP250 and won it by beating Thiem in the final. Then, crossing the Atlantic and switching to HC, Goffin went through qualifying and finally lost in W-S QFs to eventual finalist Jerzy Janowicz. That was a 25-0 run and he lost three sets in those 25 wins.
 

bigserving

Hall of Fame
Very impressed with this O'Connel kid. Just took out Stevie in straights at Fairfield, CA. Sweet, effortless power off of his one-handed backhand. Very smooth, with sneaky court coverage speed. He has got a very nice first serve with effortless looking power. Another Aussie.

Did not see any of the Aussie type of conduct that we have seen from Kyrgios and Tomic. Very impressed with this kid.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Very impressed with this O'Connel kid. Just took out Stevie in straights at Fairfield, CA. Sweet, effortless power off of his one-handed backhand. Very smooth, with sneaky court coverage speed. He has got a very nice first serve with effortless looking power. Another Aussie.

Did not see any of the Aussie type of conduct that we have seen from Kyrgios and Tomic. Very impressed with this kid.
KyrTom are an Aussie anomaly. Thompson, Millman and AdM have that old-school fair dinkum Aussie attitude and it’s nice O’Connell is there to continue that trend. Alex Bolt is another good egg.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
The mad man actually did it. Two consecutive challenger titles out of nowhere. Juan Pablo Varillas defeats Federico Coria 6-3 2-6 6-2. New ATP ranking: #161.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Mikael Ymer of Sweden also picked up his second consecutive, although he took a week off in between tournaments. Won the Orleans tourney 3 weeks back and Mouilleron-le-Captif this past week.
 

norcal

Legend
Very impressed with this O'Connel kid. Just took out Stevie in straights at Fairfield, CA. Sweet, effortless power off of his one-handed backhand. Very smooth, with sneaky court coverage speed. He has got a very nice first serve with effortless looking power. Another Aussie.

Did not see any of the Aussie type of conduct that we have seen from Kyrgios and Tomic. Very impressed with this kid.

I saw him play his semi on Saturday live then Sunday on tv when he beat Johnson. Dude is very impressive in person. Great demeanor, aggressive attitude and a well rounded game (beautiful BH!). He's coming off knee surgery so it'll be interesting to see how far he can rise.

Was also impressed with how nice the venue was for a community college! Will definitely be going back next year.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Mikael Ymer of Sweden also picked up his second consecutive, although he took a week off in between tournaments. Won the Orleans tourney 3 weeks back and Mouilleron-le-Captif this past week.
Those two titles have virtually nailed an AO’20 DE. He’s at #73 and defends only two R16 Challenger results at the end of 2018.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Other players on the cusp to gain DE into AO’20 (I’m arbitrarily starting at current #90 due to 24 qualifiers and 8 WCs reducing DE to top 96 minus PR entries) and avoid potentially the most grueling of qualies for the four slams:

#90 Gunneswaran at Ningbo (1R bye)

#91-95 all inactive

#96 Schnur (ATP250 Stockholm 1R)

#97 inactive

#98 ADF (Ningbo 1R bye)

#99-100 inactive

#101-102 Karlovic and Gerasimov (ATP250 Moscow 1R)

#103 Klahn (Ningbo 1R bye)

#104-106 inactive

#107 Uchiyama (Ningbo 1R bye)

#108 Daniel (Las Vegas 1R bye)

#109 Fabbiano (ATP250 Moscow 1R)

#110-114 inactive

#115 Maden (ATP250 Antwerp 1R

#116 Donskoy (ATP250 Moscow 1R)

#117-118 inactive

#119 Jannik Sinner (ATP250 Antwerp 1R)

#120 JM Del Potro inactive

#121 inactive

#122 Novak (ATP250 Stockholm 1R)

#123 Vesely (Ismaning 1R bye)

#124 Soeda (Ningbo 1R bye)

#125 Giron (Las Vegas 1R bye)

Top 96 currently is currently 561 points.

#125 (Giron) is at 439 points so a realistic goal in the last 45 days is to gain about 100 points to be in the mix.

I highlighted the one teen hope (Sinners Rejoice if he makes it) and the one slam champion, who needs to shut it down instead of flirting with an early return...Del Potro will earn a protected entry on December 21 simply by not playing between now and then.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Updates ^^^

Winners

Karlovic (Moscow 1R) moves to #99

Mager (Stockholm 1R) moves to #120

Sinner (Antwerp 1R) moves to #114

Copil (Antwerp 1R) moves to #84

Losers

Schnur, Novak, Donskoy
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
More updates^^^

Winners (all Challengers and into 3R)

Gunneswaran (Ningbo) stays at #90

ADF (Ningbo) moves +3 to NCH #98
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Chris O'Connell with a good shot at going back-to-back. In the Semi-Final of Las Vegas a week after winning the Fairfield challenger.
He’ll play Pospisil, who seems to have found his game again after that nice run from qualies in Shanghai. That should be tasty.

In the derby for AO DE, ADF has done wonders with the Ningbo SF run and is up to NCH #92. Klahn and Uchiyama are to play each other and are up to #98 and NCH #101 respectively.

Sinner is now NCH #100; Sugita is now at #107. Both play ATP250 SFs with mega points to gain.

Vesely is in Ismaning SFs and climbed to #121.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Only Uchiyama makes the finals and drops Sinner back a spot to #101 by moving up to NCH #94. The title win tomorrow would take him temporarily to NCH #87. Interestingly enough, the two that could jump him immediately square off tomorrow in Basel in the final stage of qualies...Popyrin vs Soon Woo Kwon.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Chris O'Connell with a good shot at going back-to-back. In the Semi-Final of Las Vegas a week after winning the Fairfield challenger.
He’ll play Pospisil, who seems to have found his game again after that nice run from qualies in Shanghai. That should be tasty.

In the derby for AO DE, ADF has done wonders with the Ningbo SF run and is up to NCH #92. Klahn and Uchiyama are to play each other and are up to #98 and NCH #101 respectively.

Sinner is now NCH #100; Sugita is now at #107. Both play ATP250 SFs with mega points to gain.

Vesely is in Ismaning SFs and climbed to #121.
It was a nice run, but O'Connell's streak of wins come to an end at the hands of one Vasek Pospisil.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
JP Varillas is back this week after a week off, in his home country challenger in Lima, Peru. Be interesting to see how long his winning streak goes. He now is seeded (#10) and won't have to do the grueling 6 matches in 7 days 2 weeks running. Two more South American challengers I'd guess would be on his schedule would be Guayaquil, Ecuador and then Montevideo, Uruguay the following two weeks.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
JP Varillas is now on a 15 match win streak and into the SF of Lima, Peru with a 7-5 7-5 victory over Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil.
Knocked off finally by Thiago Monteiro in a rematch from the Santo Domingo semifinal. The ride is finally over, but heck of a run while it lasted. I'd be curious how frequent a 15 match win streak occurs at the Challenger level. I would imagine it probably happens anywhere from twice a year to once every couple years.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Did some digging for just this 2019 season...

16 wins Pablo Andujar (ESP) 3 titles/4 tournaments
15 wins JP Varillas (PER) 2 titles/3 tournaments
14 wins Andrej Martin (SVK) 2 titles/3 tournaments
13 wins Tommy Robredo (ESP) 2 titles/3 tournaments
12 wins Norbert Gombos (SVK) 2 titles/3 tournaments
11 wins Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 2 titles/3 tournaments
10 wins Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 2 titles/3 tournaments
10 wins Daniel Evans (GBR) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]
10 wins Pablo Cuevas (URU) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]
10 wins Mikael Ymer (SWE) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]

In some of these cases, the players bounced from Challenger level to Tour level. This is strictly a Challenger level streak.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Did some digging for just this 2019 season...

16 wins Pablo Andujar (ESP) 3 titles/4 tournaments
15 wins JP Varillas (PER) 2 titles/3 tournaments
14 wins Andrej Martin (SVK) 2 titles/3 tournaments
13 wins Tommy Robredo (ESP) 2 titles/3 tournaments
12 wins Norbert Gombos (SVK) 2 titles/3 tournaments
11 wins Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 2 titles/3 tournaments
10 wins Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) 2 titles/3 tournaments
10 wins Daniel Evans (GBR) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]
10 wins Pablo Cuevas (URU) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]
10 wins Mikael Ymer (SWE) 2 titles/2 tournaments [active streak]

In some of these cases, the players bounced from Challenger level to Tour level. This is strictly a Challenger level streak.
Update...Pospisil win streak stopped at 12 (2 titles) after 2R match retirement in Knoxville; won Las Vegas dudeAu Invitational and Charlottesville Good People On Both Sides Open.

Current streak: Thiago Seyboth Wild has won Guayaquil (6 wins) and plays the Montevideo SF on Saturday (4 wins). 10 and hopefully growing.
 

NLBwell

Legend
Update...Pospisil win streak stopped at 12 (2 titles) after 2R match retirement in Knoxville; won Las Vegas dudeAu Invitational and Charlottesville Good People On Both Sides Open.

Current streak: Thiago Seyboth Wild has won Guayaquil (6 wins) and plays the Montevideo SF on Saturday (4 wins). 10 and hopefully growing.
I'd really like to see Pospisil get back on the main tour.
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
Christopher O'Connell is in yet another final at Knoxville this weekend (currently being played, against Michael Mmoh). He's in the Houston challenger next week, so outside chance of breaking into the top 100, or at least remarkably close. One of the more in form players on the Challenger Tour this fall.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Good news for Sinners...Novak pummels Dzumhur in the Bratislava final, 6-1, 6-1.

Novak has an outside chance at cracking top 100.
 
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