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.