Photograph: Getty Images
World No. 74 Jordan Thompson has secured his first Challenger title in more than four years after defeating American Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 38 minutes.
Thompson, who suffered a first round French Open defeat at the hands of eventual champion Rafael Nadal, now holds a 13-13 record on the year.
The Sydneysider dropped just one set across his five matches this past week in Surbiton and will look to maintain that momentum as the grass court season continues.
The 28-year-old will next appear at the Challenger event in Nottingham where he will be installed as the third seed.
A few short hours later Jason Kubler joined the party in Little Rock when he thrashed Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu 6-0, 6-2 in just 65 minutes.
The win capped off an utterly dominant week for Kubler in Arkansas with the 29-year-old refusing to surrender a single set across his five matches.
Kubler, who made a second-round appearance at the French Open after coming through qualifying, is now 28-9 on the season.
The now seven-time tour titlist spoke glowingly of the tournament post-match and the atypical crowd support at a Challenger event.
“Hopefully next year I can come back and defend the title but I’m going to have great memories of this week," Kubler said.
Kubler will now travel to the Challenger event in Orlando where the fourth seed will meet a qualifier in the first round.
The Australian success in Little Rock didn’t end there though with Aussie Andrew Harris also crowned champion alongside his American doubles partner Christian Harrison.
The pairing dropped just one set on their way to what was Harris’ second career Challenger Tour doubles title and first since 2019.
Sunday featured Challenger finals across all three major surfaces with champions also crowned on clay in Forli and Poznan.
In Forli, Lorenzo Musetti found a way against countryman Francesco Passario 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in over two hours.
The Italian, who was champion in Forli back in 2020, dropped the first set in each of his five matches across the week but rallied back on every occasion.
Musetti, who squandered a two-sets-to-love lead over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the French Open, will now appear at the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart where he is drawn to meet Nikoloz Basilashvili.
In Poznan, France’s Arthur Rinderknech found his way back onto the title winner’s list with a 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over Tomas Barrios Vera.
Rinderknech was playing in his first professional level final since he went down to Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Adelaide International back in January.
The win marked the Frenchman’s first Challenger title since August 2020 and moves him back up to world No. 60.
Rinderknech dropped just one set on his way to the title in Poland and will hope to continue that consistent form when he meets countryman Ugo Humbert first-up in Stuttgart.
A fifth Challenger tournament also culminated over the weekend with the final of the Unicredit Czech Open played on Saturday.
There, Vit Kopriva claimed his maiden Challenger title following a 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow Czech Dalibor Svrcina.
Kopriva, who is now 21-13 on the year, will reach a career-high ranking of world No. 147 from Monday before he opens his account at the Challenger event in Bratislava.
Comments