Gaston, Grenier Add To France’s Challenger Titles Tally

Will players from France combine to break Argentina’s ATP Challenger Tour record from last year?

Argentines combined for 23 Challenger titles in 2022, marking the most titles by a single country in a season. The Frenchmen were just one short of tying the record. This year, players from France are on track to make history in a league of their own.

On Sunday, Hugo Gaston and Hugo Grenier claimed their second Challenger titles of the season to extend France’s lead to 17 Challenger crowns this year, with Argentina in second at 12.

Gaston, 22, survived a marathon week at the Citta di Trieste Challenger in Italy, where he needed a deciding set in four of five matches to seal back-to-back Challenger titles. In the final, the fourth seed defeated sixth seed Italian Francesco Passaro 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to extend his winning streak to 10 after triumphing in Iasi, Romania last week.

The lefty Gaston, who rose to World No. 92 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, competed at the 2021 Next Gen ATP Finals and reached a career-high No. 58 last year. The Toulouse-native is one of 12 Frenchmen in the Top 100. His triumph in Trieste marks his third Challenger title.

Passaro rallied from 3-6, 2-4 against Fabian Marozsan in the semi-finals, which was completed Sunday after being suspended due to darkness Saturday. The 22-year-old Italian mounted a comeback and then returned to court to compete in his first Challenger final of 2023.

A few hours after Gaston’s title, the 27-year-old Grenier was crowned champion at the Open de Tenis Ciudad de Pozoblanco in Spain. The top seed escaped Argentine Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(3) in a marathon three-hour, 13-minute final.

Hugo Grenier wins his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title in Pozoblanco, Spain.” />
^{Hugo Grenier wins his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title in Pozoblanco, Spain. Credit: Open de Tenis Ciudad de Pozoblanco}

Grenier has played his best tennis in Spain this season, having triumphed at the Les Franqueses Del Valles Challenger in March and making a third-round appearance at the Mutua Madrid Open as a qualifier.

In other Pozoblanco action, Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras bid farewell to his 18-year pro career. The 37-year-old, who reached a career-high No. 111, was given a main draw wild card and was honoured with a plaque from the tournament.

Sumit Nagal captured his second Challenger title of the season at the Tampere Open, which is the longest-running tournament (41 years) on the ATP Challenger Tour. Seventh seed Nagal ousted #NextGenATP star Dalibor Svrcina 6-4, 7-5 in the final.

Sumit Nagal wins his fourth ATP Challenger Tour title in Tampere, Finland.” />
^{Sumit Nagal wins his fourth ATP Challenger Tour title in Tampere, Finland. Credit: Tampere Open}

Earlier this season, Nagal returned to the Challenger winners’ circle in Rome, Georgia after four difficult years that saw the 25-year-old undergo hip surgery and fight Covid multiple times. The World No. 178 continued his resurgence in Finland, where he earned his fourth Challenger trophy and became the first Indian to win two Challenger singles titles in Europe.

Canadian Alexis Galarneau ascended to a career-high No. 162 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings following his title on home soil in Granby. The 24-year-old downed Australian teen Philip Sekulic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.

Galarneau played college tennis at North Carolina State University, where he was a two-time ITA All-American (2020, 2021) and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in finance. He is the first Canadian Challenger champion of 2023 and the second player from N.C. State to win a Challenger title (John Sadri, 1984).

Alexis Galarneau wins his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Granby, Canada.” />
^{Alexis Galarneau wins his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Granby, Canada. Credit: Sarah-Jäde Champagne}

Galarneau is one of five Canadians to win the Granby Challenger, joining Frank Dancevic, Vasek Pospisil, Peter Polansky and Gabriel Diallo.

Maximilian Marterer collected his first Challenger title since 2020 by winning the Van Mossel KIA Dutch Open in Amersfoort. The 28-year-old lefty defeated Frenchman Titouan Droguet 6-4, 6-2 in the final and did not a drop set all week at the clay-court event.

Marterer capped his perfect week by winning 76 per cent of first-serve points and fending off all three break points against the eighth seed Droguet.

The German Marterer boasts an 8-3 record in Challenger finals and has enjoyed a standout month, having reached the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier.

Back in the winners’ circle 🏆

Maximilian Marterer wins the 8th #ATPChallenger title of his career and the first since 2020! pic.twitter.com/nLJD95IfK2

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 23, 2023