Norbert Gombos was already eliminated in last week’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Brest, France, before main draw action even began. But with the help of a withdrawal, the Slovakian made an improbable run from Lucky Loser to tournament champion.

When #NextGen star Quentin Halys was unable to take the court, the 26-year-old Gombos took his place in the draw and found his top form. He defeated fellow Slovakian and second seed Lukas Lacko in a third-set tie-break in the quarter-finals, then prevailed over Yannik Reuter of Belgium in the championship match to win the biggest Challenger title of his career.

“I was disappointed I couldn’t make it into the main draw there after a good run in Asia, but thankfully Quentin could not make it. I knew I had another chance and didn’t want to miss it,” said Gombos. “I played my best match in the final and was really happy with that. I had a really hard year with my surgery, so this victory meant a lot to me.”

But after briefly soaking in the win for a few moments, Gombos immediately had to refocus and set his sights on this week’s $75,000 Challenger in Budapest, Hungary. He prevailed in his opening match on Wednesday night over Hungarian wild card Peter Nagy before falling to seventh seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

“I couldn’t have a big celebration because I had to travel to Budapest,” said Gombos. “But me and my coach went out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, had a bit to drink and lots of great food.”

After a difficult season due to injury, Gombos has turned his season around over the past two months. He’s posted a 17-6 record in Challengers since the end of August, which includes a runner-up finish in Orleans, France, and semi-final showings in Izmir, Turkey and Bangkok, Thailand.

Despite the early loss in Budapest, Gombos said he was impressed by what the tournament had to offer in its debut year.

“We have everything in one place, which is nice,” said Gombos. “The hotel is walking distance from the tournament and the court are great too.”

Roger Federer has been named the top athlete brand in the Forbes Fab 40, the world’s most valuable sports brands.

The Swiss superstar has a brand value of $37 million a year, the amount by which endorsement income exceeds the average endorsement income earned by the Top 10 earning athletes in the same sport during the past year.

Federer’s brand value is greater than NBA basketball player LeBron James ($34 million), golfer Phil Mickelson ($28 million), sprinter Usain Bolt ($25 million), golfer Tiger Woods ($23 million) and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo ($19 million).

View Full Forbes Fab 40 List

Last month, the 35-year-old Federer was ranked No. 4 with $67.8 million in the The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2016 list compiled by Forbes. The Basel native’s commercial partners include Nike, Wilson, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Credit Suisse and Moët & Chandon.

Federer will return to the ATP World Tour at the start of the 2017 season.

Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi remain on track to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after beating local wild cards Antoine Bellier and Marco Chiudinelli 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday. Huey/Mirnyi are currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. There are three more berths up for grabs for the year-end showdown.

No. 2 seeds Nicolas Mahut, who is already qualified for London alongside usual partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 7-6(5). The Frenchmen landed 78 per cent of first serves and saved both break points faced.

Vienna: Bryans A Win Away From 1,000

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are within sight of a tremendous milestone. They notched their 999^th team win at tour-level with a 6-0, 6-1 rout of hometown favourites Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem in the first round of the Erste Bank Open 500. The Bryans, seeded second, dropped only five points on serve and needed just 38 minutes to dispose of the Austrians.

Top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares rallied to win 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 against John Isner and Scott Lipsky. Murray/Soares bore down in the Match Tie-break, winning all four second-serve return points to prevail in 82 minutes.

No. 3 seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, who are already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, knocked out Austrian wild cards Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6(5). Knowle was chasing his 400^th tour-level doubles win.

Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro returned to the Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday for the first time since he had beaten Roger Federer in the 2013 final. Apparently there were no hard feelings as a packed crowd in St. Jakobshalle welcomed the Argentine back with a rowdy applause. Del Potro thanked them with his 11^th consecutive win in the Swiss city, dismissing Dutch qualifier Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4.

The 6’6” right-hander converted all four break points and won nearly 60 per cent of his second-serve points in the one-hour, 22-minute contest. After beating Federer in both the 2012 and 2013 Basel finals, del Potro missed the 2014 and 2015 tournaments because of a left-wrist injury that caused him to miss almost all of those seasons.

He’s made quite the comeback this year, though. When he returned in Delray Beach in February, del Potro was No. 1,042 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He entered Basel as No. 42 and fresh off his first ATP World Tour title in more than 33 months. Del Potro won the If Stockholm Open title on Sunday (d. Sock).

“This year is very special… I’m just trying to enjoy all my matches,” del Potro said. “My wrist is OK. My biggest goal for this year is to finish healthy and then, if I’m still winning matches, that would be great.”

The 28-year-old del Potro, who received a wild card into Basel, will meet fifth seed David Goffin in the second round. The Belgian is in close contention for a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Goffin is currently in 10^th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 190 points behind No. 9 Tomas Berdych.

Goffin needs to reach the Basel final to pass Berdych. The top eight players at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 November at The O2 in London.

View the Emirates ATP Race To London

Kei Nishikori overcame a spirited effort from Italian Paolo Lorenzi to advance to the Swiss Indoors Basel quarter-finals on Wednesday 7-6(3), 6-2. Nishikori spilled 18 unforced errors in the first set as the top Italian retrieved nearly everything back to him.

But the World No. 5 cleaned up his play in the second set, reducing his unforced error tally to six to prevail in one hour and 38 minutes. The 26 year old is going for his second title of the season, having won his lone title indoors at the Memphis Open in February.

Argentine Federico Delbonis joined Nishikori in the quarter-finals by outlasting Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3. Argentine Guido Pella moved into the second round after Frenchman Richard Gasquet retired down 6-2, 2-1 36 minutes into the match. Gasquet won his second title of the season on Sunday at the inaugural European Open in Antwerp (d. Schwartzman).

Eighth seed Jack Sock also continued his strong play indoors. The 24-year-old American saved all five break points in a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Sock made the If Stockholm Open final for the second consecutive year on Sunday (l. to del Potro).