2025_08_23_Stebe-02315

Cedrik-Marcel Stebe captured his tenth ATP Challenger Tour career title by winning the 2025 Schwaben Open by Great2Stay. The 34-year-old German defeated No. 8 seed Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3 on home soil in Augsburg.

Stebe won 74 per cent of his first-service points and broke his rival five times to secure victory in one hour and 37 minutes.

“Even though I was very nervous at the beginning of the match, I managed – just like throughout the whole tournament week – to stay mentally tough,” Stebe said afterwards. “I went into the match with the mindset of not giving anything away to my opponent and simply focusing on playing my game. Right now, I’m just overjoyed, because after two years out with injuries, winning a title like this is truly something very special for me.”

Advertising

Throughout his career, Stebe has showcased his tennis skills on some of the sport’s biggest stages, with 29 Grand Slam main-draw appearances to his name. One of his most memorable achievements came in the Davis Cup, when in 2012 at Hamburg’s Rothenbaum he secured Germany’s place in the World Group by defeating former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the decisive singles match against Australia. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 71 in February 2012.

Unfortunately, his career has also been marked by a series of injuries that repeatedly halted his rise towards the very top. However, at the beginning of this season, the left-hander made his return to the Tour with the clear goal of climbing back inside the world’s Top 100.

Here in Augsburg, the current World No. 660 showed strong form. With victories over fourth seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia, Belgian qualifier Buvaysar Gadamauri, as well as Czechs Matyas Cerny and Zdenek Kolar, he powered his way into the championship match.

Stebe earned €7,530 in prize money as well as 50 ATP Ranking points.

Advertising

Molcan Caps Dream Week in Sofia

Meanwhile, Alex Molcan capped a dream week from qualifying to winning the title at the Genesis Trading Cup in Sofia. The 27-year-old from Slovakia defeated Austrian youngster Joel Schwaerzler 7-5, 6-4 in Saturday’s singles final of the ATP Challenger Tour 75 clay-court event.

Following two wins in the qualifying, Molcan beat local wild card entries Ivan Ivanov and Alexander Vasilev as well as Uruguayan qualifier Franco Roncadelli and No. 6 seed Matej Dodig of Croatia in the main draw to reach the championship match.

The lefty from Presov, who has reached a career-high Ranking of World No. 38, broke Schwaerzler’s serve five times and won 55 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 36 minutes.Molcan captured his third career title on the ATP Challenger Tour, his first since Helsinki, Finland 2021. The World No. 362 earned € 12,980 € in prize money as well as 75 ATP Ranking points.

Advertising

Echargui crowned champion in Crete

Moez Echargui was crowned champion of the Hersonissos Challenger 4. The top seed of the ATP Challenger Tour 50 hard-court event in Crete benefited from the retirement of seventh-seeded Frenchman Dan Added in the singles final.

On a sunny Saturday in Crete with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) Echargui was leading 5-7, 6-4, 3-0 when Added was forced to stop playing due to heat exhaustion after almost two and a half hours of play.

Echargui battled his way through the top half of the draw en-route to the championship match with wins over Jay Dylan Friend of Japan, Pavlos Tsitsipas from Greece, German Mats Rosenkranz and No. 6 seed Robin Betrand from France.

Advertising

Challenger Tour Continues in Europe and Asia

Even with the start of the US Open, the ATP Challenger Tour shows no sign of slowing down. Four tournaments in the 75 category across two continents are on the schedule for the upcoming week.

🇪🇸 At the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar in Manacor, Finland’s Otto Virtanen leads the field as the top seed. Also competing at the hard-court event in Mallorca are Spain’s Martin Landaluce, Britain’s Billy Harris, and France’s Harold Mayot.

🇮🇹 The clay-court season continues in Italy at the Como Lake Challenger, where Norwegian teenager Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is the No. 1 seed. He faces a tough opener against freshly crowned Schwaben Open champion and former Como winner Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. Other contenders at Lake Como include Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov, and Peru’s Gonzalo Bueno.

🇵🇹 In Portugal, clay remains the surface at the second edition of the CT Porto Cup. Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild tops the draw as the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 seed Guy den Ouden from the Netherlands. A total of ten Portuguese players are competing – five in the main draw and five in qualifying. Leading the home contingent is Henrique Rocha, seeded third, who opens against Switzerland’s Mika Brunold. Also in the main draw are Frederico Silva, Tiago Pereira, Pedro Araújo, and Francisco Rocha.

🇨🇳 Action is also taking place in Asia at the International Challenger Zhangjiagang, with Australia’s Bernard Tomic heading the field. He will face competition from Japan’s Rio Noguchi and Sho Shimabukuro, as well as Chinese local favorite Fajing Sun.