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Cerundolo Conquers Cachin In Santiago

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Juan Manuel Cerundolo won two ATP Challenger Tour titles to start his season. Could this be the week he adds another ATP Tour trophy to his collection?

The Argentine qualifier battled past countryman Pedro Cachin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round of the Movistar Chile Open.

“I’m really happy and I hope to keep working to get better,” Cerundolo said. “I still have a lot of things to improve so I need to keep working and see if I have better results.”[

The lefty dominated behind his first serve, winning 85 per cent of those points. Cerundolo saved two of the three break points he faced to advance after two hours and two minutes.

Another qualifier advanced earlier in the day when Yannick Hanfmann ousted defending champion Pedro Martinez 6-2, 6-0.

“The match went well. It was a pretty clear scoreline, but I think it was a little bit closer. There were a few really long games,” Hanfmann said. “Obviously playing qualies gave me a little bit of confidence.”

One year ago in Santiago, Martinez defeated Hanfmann 6-2, 6-2 in the Santiago quarter-finals.

“He beat me pretty bad last year in the quarters, so I was able to return the favour in the first round here,” Hanfmann said. “That’s how it is. Tennis is brutal sometimes.”

Did You Know?
Dominic Thiem and Fabio Fognini played mini tennis before the start of the Movistar Chile Open. Both Top 10 stars are scheduled to compete Tuesday.

^{Photo Credit: Aljaro/Binder}

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February 28, 2023
Cerundolo Captures First Challenger Crown Of 2023

After experiencing several highs and lows in 2022, Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo got off to a fast start this year on home soil at the season-opening Tigre Challenger.

The 21-year-old recently battled leg and hip injuries which forced him to take time off. When the lefty was able to play tournaments consistently in the latter part of 2022, he made a sudden impact as he triumphed at the Buenos Aires and Coquimbo Challengers. Cerundolo, who has won 19 of his past 22 matches, picked up right where he finished the previous season.

Cerundolo, seeded first, rallied from a set down in Sunday’s final to defeat Bolivian Murkel Dellien 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 and claim the Challenger Aysa de Tigre-1.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo is crowned champion at the 2023 Tigre-1 Challenger. Credit: Asociación Argentina de Tenis

“I feel really good about this week,” Cerundolo said. “I think I had an amazing level, and tried to play offensive. The final was super tough coming from a set down, but I managed to turn it over. I’m really happy.”

At the Oeiras Indoor-1 Challenger in Portugal, Joris De Loore advanced through qualifying en route to collecting his maiden Challenger trophy. The Belgian took down Romanian Filip Cristian Jianu 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

De Loore is the oldest (29 years, 8 months) first-time winner since 2015, when Italian Luca Vanni won his maiden title at 31. The Bruges native has been plagued with injuries throughout his career, including missing the entire 2019 and 2020 seasons following multiple surgeries. The 29-year-old’s persistence paid off this week when he won the Challenger 50 event.

Joris De Loore earns his first Challenger title in Oeiras, Portugal. Credit: FPT/Sara Falcao

“Over the past seven years, every year I had a surgery,” De Loore said. “This [the title] will give me a boost, I really feel that I am physically good now and now it’s just about staying healthy. I think this year can be my year.”

In Canberra, Australia, Marton Fucsovics collected his second Challenger title in the past three months. The Hungarian defeated Swiss youngster Leandro Riedi 7-5, 6-4 in the final at the P2 Advisory Canberra International.

“It&rsquor;s a great, great start of the year. Cannot wish for a better week,” Fucsovics said. “I was very focussed on each match and I felt very strong physically. I think it&rsquor;ll help me in the future and especially at the Australian Open.”

Marton Fucsovics in action at the 2023 Canberra Challenger. Credit: Anastasia Kachalkova

Fucsovics, 30, has played some of his best tennis in Australia. The six-time Challenger champion has won 13 of his past 14 matches and will next look for another strong run at the season’s first Slam. The World No. 74 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings has twice reached the fourth round at the Australian Open (2018, 2020) before losing to Roger Federer on both occasions.

Saturday’s Canberra final marked the end of Riedi’s 16-match winning streak. The 20-year-old went on a late-season surge in 2022, when he collected the title at the Helsinki and Andria Challengers.

In Thailand, second seed Dennis Novak earned his first Challenger title since November 2019 (Bratislava). The Austrian defeated Tung-Lin Wu 6-4, 6-4 in the final to win the Bangkok Open-1.

“I played a really good tournament,” Novak said. “Lost only one set and felt really good, I would say it’s the perfect start to the season.”

The 29-year-old rises to 142 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and keeps his eyes set on his goal for the season: “to get back into the Top 100.”

On the island of New Caledonia, Raul Brancaccio fended off a championship point before a four-hour rain delay to defeat Frenchman Laurent Lokoli 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and win the Open SIFA Nouvelle-Caledonie.

After claiming his first Challenger title on home soil in July, the Italian had his back against the wall three times this week in Noumea. Brancaccio dropped the opening set in his final three matches of the week, including comeback wins against former Top-20 players Benoit Paire and Cristian Garin, who was seeded first at the Challenger 100 event.

January 10, 2023
#NextGenATP Cerundolo, Bellucci Continue Challenger Tour Hot Streak

Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Italian Mattia Bellucci continued their sizzling runs on the ATP Challenger Tour this week as they each claimed their second Challenger title this month. Cerundolo collected the title at the Coquimbo Challenger while Bellucci triumphed in Vilnius, Lithuania. The #NextGenATP stars Bellucci and Cerundolo are among five Challenger champions this week.

Cerundolo defeated countryman Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the championship match to win the Challenger Dove Men+Care Coquimbo 2.

Following his breakthrough season in 2021, when Cerundolo collected a trio of Challenger titles and won the ATP 250 event in Cordoba, the lefty has battled a psoas muscle injury [located in the lower lumbar region of the spine] that forced him to take time off this summer.

Since returning to competition, the Buenos Aires native has made a sudden impact on the Challenger Tour, winning 12 of his past 13 matches, including triumphing in his home city, Buenos Aires, earlier this month. The 20-year-old boasts a 21-8 Challenger-match record this season and the title in Coquimbo lifts him to 136 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Bellucci, 21, extended his match-winning streak to 12 after defeating Turkish qualifier Cem Ilkel 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final at the Vilnius Open by kevin. The left-hander didn’t drop a set all week until the championship match.

“I’m super, super happy,” Bellucci said. “I played unbelievable tennis for two weeks. 12 matches in a row, I’m also a bit tired.”

“The first set was super difficult to get into the match, I felt tired, especially mentally. Then I was like, ‘Okay, let’s play every point!”

Italian Mattia Bellucci in action at the 2022 Vilnius Challenger. Credit: Saulius Čirba

The week prior to triumphing in Lithuania, Bellucci advanced through qualifying to win his first Challenger title at the Saint-Tropez Challenger. Bellucci is the second Italian #NextGenATP player to score multiple Challenger titles this season (Luca Nardi, 3) and is the youngest Italian to win Challenger titles in back-to-back weeks since 19-year-old Stefano Pescosolido in 1991.

Following his title at the indoor hard court event in Vilnius, Bellucci rises to a career-high No. 156 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

In Ambato, Ecuador, Facundo Bagnis created Challenger Tour history. The lefty secured Argentina’s 21st Challenger title of the year, the most titles won by a single country in a season, as he ousted Brazilian Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva 7-6(7), 6-4 in the final at the Ambato La Gran Ciudad.

Bagnis was victorious a few hours after Argentine youngster Cerundolo secured his title in Chile, combining to surpass the previous record of most titles won by a country in a season, 20, which has been reached four times (France in 2005, Argentina in 2007, 2016, 2021).

Facundo Bagnis in action during Sunday&rsquor;s final at the Ambato Challenger. Credit: Armando Prado

Bagnis, who claimed the Pereira Challenger earlier this season, dropped just one set all week en route to claiming his 16th Challenger title.

“I’m very happy,” Bagnis said. “I didn’t feel good in the past few weeks, not because of the results but because of myself… Getting into the Top 100 is a goal I achieved with this victory and now I have more goals.”

At the Granology Busan Open in South Korea, Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak captured his fourth Challenger title after defeating Moldova’s Radu Albot 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the final.

Majchrzak, 26, went 3-0 at the season-opening ATP Cup before reaching his maiden Tour-level semi-final in Pune (l. Ruusuvuori). This week, the 2013 US Open boys’ doubles champion (w/ Ma Redlicki) took down top seed Soonwoo Kwon in the quarter-finals en route to his first Challenger title of 2022. Majchrzak climbs to No. 82, seven spots shy of his career-high, which he reached in February.

In the second all-Swiss final in Challenger Tour history (Marc Rosset vs. Roland Stadler, Nyon 1989), Alexander Ritschard defeated Henri Laaksonen 7-5, 6-5 (ret.) to win the Challenger Hamburg.

“It was a tough week,” Ritschard said. “I had many tough matches, I played everything point-for-point and somehow managed to sneak out the win.”

Alexander Ritschard during Sunday&rsquor;s Hamburg Challenger final. Credit: Witters Sportfotografie

For the first time in Challenger history, four Swiss players have won a Challenger title in the same season. Ritschard joins Dominic Stricker (Cleveland, Zug), Marc-Andrea Huesler (Mexico City, Aguascalientes) and Antoine Bellier (San Luis Potosi) as Swiss champions in 2022.

After collecting his maiden Challenger title, the Zurich native opened up about the inspiration he felt this week after receiving a difficult phone call.

“I got some bad news from my family this past week that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Ritschard said. “Not something I’d like to hear on the road. They found it pretty early, I’m confident she will be okay. It definitely helped with the motivation [this week].”

Ritschard, World No. 166, is three spots shy of tying his career-high 163 and following the championship match, the 28-year-old acknowledged that his goal for the remainder of the season is to finish in the Top 150.

October 25, 2022
Cerundolo Back In Business On ATP Challenger Tour

“We were both born with a tennis racquet,” #NextGenATP star Juan Manuel Cerundolo joked as he recalled his earliest tennis memory of him and his older brother, Francisco Cerundolo.

The Argentine brothers have inspired each other throughout their young careers as they’ve built upon their success. An important time for family support came this season, when Juan Manuel was sidelined with injuries.

“My brother and I keep motivating and learning from each other,” Juan Manuel told ATPTour.com. “We give advice and motivate like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it also’. His achievement this year inspired me to keep going, we keep in touch a lot.”

This past week, Juan Manuel returned to the winners’ circle as he won the Buenos Aires Challenger to collect his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the season (fourth overall). In front of an energetic Argentine crowd, the 20-year-old defeated countryman Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the final.

“I didn’t expect to win the tournament,” Juan Manuel said. “It was my second tournament coming back from almost two-and-a-half months and before that, I wasn’t competing regularly. Winning now, being healthy and playing in front of my people at home was really nice. It was relieving.

“It’s the best Challenger I’ve won, between the four. The atmosphere was incredible. Both me and Camilo had lots of people cheering for us. That’s something you don’t see in any other place than your home.”

Players from Argentina have combined for a season-leading 19 Challenger titles. Juan Manuel is the 14th different Argentine champion this year, tying a Challenger Tour record for the most different winners from a single country in a season (USA in 2006, France in 2011). The waiting and hard recovery work paid off for the Buenos Aires native.

“The injury was really frustrating because 2021 was amazing for me,” Juan Manuel said. “When I was starting to play ATP, I tore my psoas muscle [located in the lower lumbar region of the spine], also coming from a problem in my hip. Then we realised my hip was okay, it was more the tendon and muscle. All my results I got last year went away because I couldn’t play. It made me angry because when you play, you want to put your 100% in every match, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

In 2021, Juan Manuel was one of four players to claim a Tour-level and Challenger title. His three Challenger titles – Rome-2, Como, Banja Luka – all came after his initial breakthrough at the ATP 250 event in Cordoba. ‘Juanma’ advanced through qualifying en route to making his ATP Tour main-draw debut on home soil. He didn’t stop there.

The then-World No. 335 became the first Argentine to win a title in his debut and the youngest Argentine champion (19 years, three months) since Guillermo Coria (19 years, one month) won Vina del Mar in 2001. The lefty’s standout season booked him a ticket to the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next ATP Finals in Milan, Italy.

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“Cordoba was a dream,” Juan Manuel said. “I was playing qualifying and I was like, ‘If I can win one qualifying match, it will be a good tournament!’ Then I started winning and I couldn’t believe anything. When I was in the quarter-finals I was like, ‘Woah, what is going on!’ Then I just had the confidence and it happened.

“It was like everything I dreamed of since I was a kid, winning at home, all my friends and family were there. Now, looking back, I learned a lot from that week. It was like the beginning of my career.”

Juan Manuel Cerundolo captures the title at the 2021 Cordoba Open. Credit: Cordoba Open

This season, Francisco, 24, followed in his younger brother’s footsteps by claiming his maiden Tour-level title in July, when he triumphed at the ATP 250 event in Bastad, Sweden. Much like Juan Manuel’s achievement in 2021, Francisco also claimed a Challenger title (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) in January. The right-hander is one of six players who have claimed a Tour-level and Challenger title in 2022.

When Francisco, No. 29 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, lifted the trophy in Sweden, Juan Manuel was preparing for the Tampere Challenger. He made sure that he could watch his brother be crowned champion.

“When he [Francisco] was playing the final in Bastad, I was training in Finland,” Juan Manuel said. “My coach put TennisTV on between our trainings and I saw every point I could. It was a very important final for him and he was playing a friend of mine, Sebastian Baez. It was a really nice match, both are having an amazing year.”

Juan Manuel, World No. 148, has shifted his attention towards having a consistent run during the year-end South American Challenger swing as he looks to play a full season in 2023. The lefty is set to compete the next two weeks at the Rio de Janeiro and Coquimbo-2 Challengers.

“With all the injuries I’ve been through this year, now my only goal is to play regularly,” Juan Manuel said. “To play three tournaments in a row would be amazing for me and to have the regularity to win and try to play as much as possible is more important than ranking and tournaments right now.”

October 7, 2022