Italian Mattia Bellucci and Australian Li Tu won’t ever put out of your mind this week at the ATP Challenger Tour.
Bellucci, 21, complicated thru qualifying and dropped only one set en path to claiming the Saint-Tropez Challenger whilst Tu triumphed on the Seoul Challenger and devoted the victory to his mom, who not too long ago gave up the ghost. Bellucci and Tu have been amongst 5 champions at the Challenger Tour this week.
On the exhausting courts nestled in southern France, #NextGenATP superstar Bellucci defeated countryman Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3 to seize the Saint-Tropez Open.
“It was an amazing week,” Bellucci stated. “I began on Monday, I performed on a daily basis, seven days, seven suits and with each and every fit, I felt higher and higher.
“Today, I stayed focussed as much as possible on every point, on every ball. I’m super happy because I won my first Challenger and the first time is always special. When I arrived here, I couldn’t have imagined that I would win the tournament.”
Bellucci is the 7th #NextGenATP Italian champion this season. The lefty joins Arnaldi, Flavio Cobolli, Francesco Maestrelli, Lorenzo Musetti, Luca Nardi, and Francesco Passaro. The name on the Challenger 100 tournament lifts Bellucci to a career-high 186 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
Arnaldi, 21, strengthens his hopes of qualifying for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals following his runner-up end in France. The Sanremo local climbs to eleventh within the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan.
At the FILA Seoul Open Challenger, Aussie qualifier Tu capped off an emotional week by way of defeating Wu Yibing 7-6(5), 6-4 to earn his first Challenger name.
Tu, 26, returned to skilled tennis in February 2021 after a six-year hiatus. During his time clear of professional tennis, he earned his school stage and coached junior avid gamers. Now creating a surprising affect at the Challenger Tour, the Adelaide local rises to a career-high 190 following the name in Seoul, which he devoted to his mom.
The successful second for 🇦🇺 @LiTuTennis 💪#ATPChallenger | @TennisAustralia percent.twitter.com/BykrR3mj59
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 16, 2022
“My mom passed away three weeks ago and tomorrow is her birthday,” Tu stated all over the trophy presentation. “So this is for her.”
Wu, who boasts a 23-4 fit file on the Challenger degree this season, climbs to a career-high No. 115. The 23-year-old has gained 3 Challenger titles this yr and now seems to be to grow to be the primary Chinese guy to wreck during the Top 100. His countryman, Zhang Zhizhen, who’s a four-time Challenger finalist this season, is the highest-ranked Chinese participant (No. 109).
In Ismaning, Germany, most sensible seed Quentin Halys ended house favorite Max Hans Rehberg’s dream week within the ultimate. Halys fired 24 aces within the championship fit, claiming a 7-6(6), 6-3 victory to win the Wolffkran Open by way of Tannenhof.
“I was playing really great during the whole week,” Halys stated. “I was serving amazing, I’m super happy about my performance. In the final, we had chances to break each other, I was lucky to get a break in the second. It was very tough.”
Quentin Halys lifts the trophy on the Ismaning Challenger.” />
Frenchman Quentin Halys lifts the trophy on the Ismaning Challenger. Credit: Juergen Hasenkopf
The Frenchman boasts a Challenger season-leading 43 fit wins. Halys joins Constant Lestienne, Nardi, and Wu as three-time Challenger champions this yr. Only Pedro Cachin and Jack Draper have captured 4 Challenger titles this season.
Players from France have blended for a season-leading (tied w/ Argentina) 19 Challenger titles. Both countries are one name shy of tying the Challenger Tour file for many titles gained by way of a unmarried nation (20), which Argentina has amassed 3 times (2021, 2016, 2007) and France has claimed as soon as (2005).
Rehberg, 18, used to be given a wild card and dissatisfied 2d seed Tomas Machac and 3rd seed Vasek Pospisil en path to his first Challenger ultimate.
American Michael Mmoh, who didn’t drop a collection all week, took down school standout Gabriel Diallo 6-3, 6-2 within the ultimate on the Taube-Haase Pro Tennis Championship in Fairfield, California.
Mmoh has gained 12 of his previous 13 suits, together with claiming the name this previous month on the Cary Challenger. The American believes his luck has come after a newfound mindset.
“The toughest loss for me this year was at the US Open [qualifying],” Mmoh stated. “I used to be up 6-2, 5-2 towards Gilles Simon and ended up shedding that. That used to be a heartbreaker, it in reality beaten me. I in reality took time to mention, ‘What can I do outside of tennis?’ I attempted to problem myself after that horrific loss.
“I started reading books, started talking to psychologists, broadening my horizons. I was challenging myself to get better. Whenever you have some of those losses, you look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘There’s a reason that happened, how can I fix it?’”
The 24-year-old, who boasts seven Challenger titles (all on house soil), rises to No. 110 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and units his attractions on surpassing his career-high mark 96, which he reached in October 2018.
Diallo, who’s a senior on the University of Kentucky, climbs to a career-high 250 following his runner-up end in California. The 21-year-old claimed his first Challenger name on the Granby Challenger in August.
Italian Marco Cecchinato, seeded 3rd, used to be topped champion on the Challenger Dove Men+Care Rio de Janeiro after he rallied from a collection all the way down to defeat German Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 within the ultimate.
Marco Cecchinato celebrates his 2d Challenger name this season.” />
Italian Marco Cecchinato celebrates his 2d Challenger name this season. Credit: Luiz Candido
Cecchinato has gained 10 of his previous 11 suits, together with triumphing on the Lisbon Challenger this previous month. The 30-year-old is a three-time Tour titlist (Budapest, Umag, Buenos Aires). Following the name at the Brazilian clay, Cecchinato launches again into the Top 100.
In 2019, the Italian reached a career-high 16 in a while after successful the ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires. Cecchinato reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2018, when he defeated Novak Djokovic within the quarter-finals ahead of falling to Dominic Thiem. As the-then World No. 72, Cecchinato changed into the lowest-ranked Roland Garros semi-finalist since Andrei Medvedev (No. 100) in 1999.