18-Year-Old Prizmic Wins First Challenger Title

Two #NextGenATP players made a splash on the ATP Challenger Tour this past week.

Dino Prizmic, 18, continued his rapid rise by winning the Banja Luka Open on Sunday while Italian Matteo Gigante collected his second Challenger trophy of the season, claiming the Serena Wines 1881 – Acqua Maniva Tennis Cup on home soil. All five of this week’s Challenger champions rose to career-high rankings on Monday.

Prizmic downed fifth seed and Belgian Kimmer Coppejans 6-2, 6-3 in the final to become the youngest Croatian champion since a 17-year-old Borna Coric in 2014. Prizmic, who won this year’s Roland Garros boys’ singles title, is the first player to win a Grand Slam junior crown and a Challenger title in the same season since Wu Yibing in 2017.

“It’s an amazing feeling because this is my first Challenger win,” said Prizmic, who is at No. 175 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “I hope I will continue like this. I’m very happy because this year’s work is showing up.”

A quarter-finalist at last month’s ATP 250 event in Umag, Prizmic is the second-youngest Challenger winner of 2023, only behind 17-year-old Jakub Mensik, who won in Prague in May.

In an all-#NextGenATP final, Gigante cruised past Austrian Lukas Neumayer 6-0, 6-2 in Cordenons, where the third-longest active Italian Challenger was celebrating their 20th anniversary.

The Rome native, who won his maiden Challenger title in Tenerife in February, joins Luca van Assche and Dominic Stricker as #NextGenATP players with titles on both hard and clay this season (Challenger level). Following his triumph in Cordenons, Gigante climbed to World No. 162.

Matteo Gigante wins his second ATP Challenger Tour title in Cordenons, Italy.” />
^{Matteo Gigante wins the Challenger 75 event in Cordenons, Italy. Credit: Antonio Ros}

Australian Adam Walton secured his maiden Challenger title in Cary, North Carolina, where the 24-year-old saved two championship points to down Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the Atlantic Tire Championships I.

“I haven’t been playing Challengers for that long, so I haven’t played many of these guys before so it’s all very new to me, but I’m excited for what the future holds,” Walton said. “It’s my first Challenger title so I’m very happy to get that one.”

Walton is the seventh different singles winner from the University of Tennessee in Challenger history (since 1978). At a career-high No. 206 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Walton is the 11th Challenger champion of 2023 to have competed collegiately in the United States.

Adam Walton wins the Challenger 75 event in Cary, North Carolina.” />
^{Adam Walton wins the Challenger 75 event in Cary, North Carolina. Credit: Atlantic Tire Championships}

Briton Jan Choinski earned his second career Challenger trophy by winning the M.A.R.A Open in Meerbusch, Germany. The 27-year-old ousted Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have finally clinched the victory at this remarkable tournament,” said Choinski, who rose to World No. 129 on Monday. “I had reached the finals here in Meerbusch back in 2018, so to be able to carry it through to the end now is truly gratifying.”

Jan Choinski celebrates winning the Meerbusch Challenger.” />
^{Jan Choinski celebrates winning the Meerbusch Challenger. Credit: M.A.R.A Open}

Last month, Choinski made his major main-draw debut at Wimbledon, where he advanced to the second round. The German-born player has reached at least the semi-finals in four Challenger tournaments this year.

Argentine Genaro Alberto Olivieri survived more than four hours on court Sunday to win the RD Open in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where rain forced the 25-year-old to play his semi-final and final matches on the same day.

Oliveri escaped countryman Marco Trungelliti 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the championship match to lift his second Challenger crown and first of this season. Oliveri made his Grand Slam main draw debut this year at Roland Garros and has since ascended to World No. 145.

“I have been growing a lot, more than anything I have been encouraging myself to play better, to pick up rhythms, to serve better, to return [better], I think we are seeing those results,” Oliveri said in Spanish. “I feel like I’m in the best moment of my career and I feel like I’m playing the best tennis of my life too.”

In ATP Challenger Tour doubles action, American duo Evan King and Reese Stalder (Cary champions) and French pair Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq (Meerbusch champions) both won their tour-leading fourth team titles of 2023. They join Ivan Liutarevich and Vladyslav Manafov atop the doubles title leaderboard.