There were moments when Pablo Andujar could not envision a return to professional tennis, let alone wrapping his arms around a trophy. After three elbow surgeries and years of anguish, the former World No. 32 had his doubts that he would ever step on a court again.

But when the body fails, perseverence prevails. In just his eighth tournament in 18 months, Andujar battled to the title at the inaugural ATP Challenger Tour event in Alicante, Spain. He celebrated his first trophy in nearly four years, since triumphing at the Swiss Open Gstaad in 2014.

After battling to a trio of three-set victories during the week, Andujar needed just one hour and 36 minutes to upset #NextGenATP star Alex de Minaur 7-6(5), 6-1 in Saturday’s final. The Spaniard rallied from an 0-3 deficit in the first set, reeling off 13 of the next 17 games to emerge victorious.

De Minaur, meanwhile, continues his push towards the Top 100 after reaching his third Challenger final. It marked the third consecutive year that the 19-year-old has featured in a title match on the circuit. Having also reached his first ATP World Tour final in Sydney in January, the Aussie-born Alicante resident is the only player to reach finals on both circuits this year.

ICYMI, @AndujarPablo is the champion at the inaugural #ATPChallenger in Alicante. The ?? clinched his first title since 2014 @SwissOpenGstaad. pic.twitter.com/96zPkhtvqU

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 8, 2018

Andujar’s win at the Ferrero Challenger Open, hosted at former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero’s academy in the town of Villena, will see him jump more than 200 spots in the ATP Rankings to No. 355. The Spanish veteran spoke to ATPWorldTour.com after the match…

After De Minaur got off to a great start at 3-0 in the first set, you were able to recover nicely. Talk about that and how you got the win.
I think it was a great final. We both played very well throughout the first set. He started very strong without missing much. I tried to match that level he was playing and I was able to get the break back. It was an exchange of blows until the tie-break. I was lucky to take it and the momentum went in my favour. In the second set, I tried to maintain the same level and although he played well, his game dropped a little.

Your opponent in the final is one of the #NextGenATP leaders in the ATP Race To Milan. What makes him so tough to beat?
I was not surprised at his level, because I had seen him play a few times. I know he can play very well and he’s only 19 years old. I’m surprised that he has so many weapons already, and not only with his game, but also mentally. He is a gladiator, a warrior on the court. I agree that he is a player on the rise.

What feelings did you have throughout the week?
It was all very good. I am slowly improving my game and that allowed me to play the best match of the week in the final. I did not expect to take a trophy with me already.

You didn’t expect success to come so soon?
That’s right. In the end, it is true that if you buy the tickets and do everything you can to win the lottery, there could be a week when you win. If feel like that was me. In this case, it makes me especially excited because it was close to home. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s Equelite Academy has been very good to me from the first day. We have known each other for a long time, we have a very good relationship and that makes this title even more special. This helped me to keep my level all week and stay calm.

What do you take from the week in Alicante?
I take great satisfaction. In the end, when you put in the time and effort, everything ends up working out. All the suffering has been rewarded. The previous week I lost in the first round of the Challenger in Marbella, and in just one week everything changed.

What changed in such a short time?
I was training well and doing things the best I could. After all this time away from the game, it was a surprise to win. Look at the weeks I’ve played. I do not have many titles. It’s normal to lose every week. But this time it has been on my side.

This season, you had won your first match at the Rio Open presented by Claro, but again you had another injury.
It was a small setback. Although it was not an elbow injury, I had to go back to do rehab and it was a month and a half without competing. I knew that little by little I would get my level again, although maybe it has come faster than I expected. Now I only ask to stay healthy.

Where do you go from here?
Marrakesh. I will try to play ATP World Tour tournaments with my Protected Ranking and any wild cards. That will allow me to continue training and competing with the best players. That is what I need now.

Stat of the week: Alicante champion @AndujarPablo was competing in just his eighth tournament in 18 months, in his return from a third elbow surgery. Jumps more than 200 spots in the ATP Rankings. pic.twitter.com/IThr4RpATB

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 8, 2018

The ATP World Tour’s only clay-court event in North America and the Tour’s lone event in Africa take place this week at Houston and Marrakech, respectively. Twelve clay-court tournaments will be held over the next seven weeks leading into Roland Garros, with thousands of ATP Rankings points at stake. 

In Houston at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, top seed John Isner will attempt to back up his terrific performance to win the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year in Miami, while 2017 Monte-Carlo finalist and top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas will look to start his clay-court stretch off on a high note, leading the field at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech.

View draws: Houston | Marrakech

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN HOUSTON

1) In-Form Isner: The Houston field is led by 32-year-old John Isner, who won the Miami title on 1 April to become the oldest first-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion. Isner has played in Houston every year since 2008. He is a career-high No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, which he first achieved on 16 April 2012 after reaching the Houston final. Isner won the title one year later.

2) Home Favourites: Isner is one of six seeded Americans, and 14 players from the United States in the main draw. No. 2 seed Sam Querrey is making his 10th appearance. He reached the Houston final in 2010 and 2015.

3) Much-Anticipated Debut: Nick Kyrgios received a wild card on 26 March and will make his Houston debut as the No. 4 seed. Kyrgios got off to an excellent start to the year by winning his fourth ATP World Tour title at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. He owns three Top 10 tour-level wins on clay (3-5).

4) Jack’s Maiden Title: Jack Sock won the biggest title of his career by claiming his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy last year in Paris, which helped him qualify for his first appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. Sock is appearing for the sixth straight spring in Houston, home of another tournament he’ll never forget — Sock claimed his first ATP World Tour title here in 2015.  

5) The Champ is Here: Steve Johnson battled through a fantastic three-set match in last year’s Houston final to claim his second ATP World Tour title. The American battled through visible cramps to defeat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in a third-set tie-break. Johnson returns this week as the No. 6 seed.

6) Tenth Anniversary: As a 15-year-old, Ryan Harrison qualified at 2008 Houston and defeated Pablo Cuevas in the first round. Harrison remains the youngest player to win an ATP World Tour match since Rafael Nadal at 2002 Mallorca. The No. 7 seed’s best result at the event came in 2012, when he lost to his current coach, Michael Russell, in the quarter-finals.

7) Familiar Fernando: Returning to Houston for a sixth straight year is No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco. The Spaniard won the Houston title in 2014 and is one of five former champions in the field, joining Johnson (2017), Sock (2015), Isner (2013) and 6’11” Croatian Ivo Karlovic (2007). The lefty is just two victories from win No. 500 in his career, and he faces qualifier Denis Kudla in the first round.

8) Young Americans: #NextGenATP Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz reached the Round of 16 last month at Masters 1000 events in Miami and Indian Wells, respectively. They are joined this week by 21-year-old American Ernesto Escobedo, a surprise semi-finalist in Houston last year.

9) Champion Slayer: Dustin Brown was awarded a wild card into Houston, and he has eliminated the defending champion in his previous two appearances. The third wild card in the main draw is Mackenzie Mcdonald, who pushed reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov to five sets at the Australian Open earlier this year.

10) Bros Are Back: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have captured a record 115 tour-level doubles titles, including a team-best six at three events including Houston. The Bryans have reached three straight finals this season, highlighted by the Miami title.

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN MARRAKECH

1) Pressure is a Privilege: World No. 23 Albert Ramos-Vinolas leads the Marrakech field nearly a year since the best performance of his career, when he reached the final at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal). The Spaniard was a quarter-finalist at 2017 Marrakech before that run. The left-hander’s maiden ATP World Tour final came in Casablanca, the previous home of this week’s event, in 2012 (l. to Andujar).

2) Brit Continuing His Climb: No. 2 seed Kyle Edmund reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open, then ended Andy Murray’s 12-year reign as the No. 1 Brit on 5 March. Edmund will look to build more momentum on the clay, a surface on which he went 8-8 in tour-level matches last year. 

3) Trying Again: No. 3 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber returns a year after holding five championship points against Borna Coric in the Marrakech final. Despite finishing as the Marrakech runner-up, Kohlschreiber did not slow down, going on to win 32 matches in 2018 and finishing the year in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings. for the 11th consecutive season.

4) French Flair: Two former Top 10 players are in the Marrakech field, both of whom are from France: former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet and former World No. 6 Gilles Simon. Gasquet has captured 14 ATP World Tour titles and Simon has won 13, including a season-opening championship at Pune on 6 January.

Read Draw Preview: Thrills Await In Marrakech

5) Ten-Year Anniversary: Simon makes his Marrakech debut after winning the event’s predecessor at Casablanca as a qualifier in 2008. That was the first of a career-best three titles that year for the Frenchman, helping him qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, at which he beat Roger Federer and advanced to the semi-finals.

6) Beware of Dog: Welcome back to the ATP World Tour, Alexandr Dolgopolov! The former World No. 13 has missed the past nine weeks with a right-wrist injury. The Ukrainian seeks his first win at the event — he played in the Casablanca main draw twice (2010, 2012), but lost in the first round on both occasions.

7) Surprise, Surprise: Mirza Basic and Roberto Carballes Baena won the first ATP World Tour titles of their respective careers on 11 February. Both the Bosnian and Spaniard were qualifiers ranked outside of the Top 100 when they won championships at Sofia and Quito, respectively. Now, both competitors are inside the Top 100 and looking to continue climbing the ATP Rankings.

8) Born to be Wild: Tunisian Malek Jaziri is one of three wild cards this week. Jaziri was also a wild card when he upset then-World No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov on 27 February en route to the Dubai semi-finals. As the World No. 117, Jaziri became the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Dubai tournament history.

9) International Flair: Players from 15 different countries are in the main draw of the Grand Prix Hassan II (before qualifying), while there are competitors from 22 different countries in the doubles draw. There have been singles champions in Marrakech from nine different countries since the events inception in 1990.

10) Flying Dutchmen: Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop of The Netherlands are among the doubles teams competing in Marrakech. They reached the 2017 US Open quarter-finals in their tournament debut as a team, and have gone on to win titles at Pune and Sofia already this season.

CROATIA 3, KAZAKHSTAN 1
Venue: Varazdin Arena, Varazdin, CRO (clay – indoor)

Croatia reached the Davis Cup World Group semi-finals for the second time in three years after World No. 3 Marin Cilic cruised past Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Cilic hit 31 winners to ease past Kukushkin, who scored the visiting nation’s only point on Friday, after two hours and one minute. Since losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the 2016 final, the Croatian No.1 has won all six matches he has played in the team event.

The Australian Open finalist improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Kukushkin to 3-1. Croatia has now won six consecutive ties on clay, with its last loss on the surface coming in 2013 against Great Britain.

Kazakhstan still waits for its first semi-final appearance in the competition, after falling in the quarter-finals for the fifth time. Croatia moves into a home semi-final against the United States. The tie will be played from 14-16 September.

USA 4, BELGIUM 0
Venue: Curb Event Center, Nashville, USA (hard – indoor)

Although the American Davis Cup squad had already clinched victory following yesterday’s four-set doubles rubber, Ryan Harrison took to court at the Curb Event Center in Nashville on Sunday, extending his team’s unassailable lead over Belgium to 4-0. The Brisbane finalist defeated Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour.

Belgium, which had made the Davis Cup final in two of the past three seasons, will remain in the World Group in 2019, while the United States will advance to the semi-finals, where they will play Croatia. Croatia. 

Earlier in the tie, John Isner and Sam Querrey scored two wins for the American team in their opening singles rubbers, while Harrison and Jack Sock sealed the tie with a doubles triumph. All five Americans on the squad, including Steve Johnson, will be seeded at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship next week in Houston.

SPAIN 2, GERMANY 2
Venue: Plaza de Toros de Valencia, Valencia, ESP (clay- outdoor)

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal forced a decisive fifth rubber in Valencia after beating Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday.

The Spaniard levelled the Davis Cup quarter-final tie against Germany at 2-2 after two hours and 16 minutes, breaking the 20-year-old on six occasions en route to his second three-set win in three days. Zverev had been bidding to secure Germany a historic win on Spanish soil. The last nation to beat Spain on home soil was Brazil, led by Gustavo Kuerten, in 1999.

Speaking on court after the crucial win, Nadal emphasised the importance of the victory and the special atmosphere inside the Plaza de Toros de Valencia. “It was never going to be easy so I’m very happy to get an important victory for me and the team,” reflected Nadal. “I’m very happy with my level, the first set was fantastic in such an important match. It’s a great feeling and very unique to play here in front of my people. It was a great match for me in an unbelievable atmosphere.”

The tie will now be decided by the fifth and final rubber, as David Ferrer takes on World No. 34 Philipp Kohlschreiber. Ferrer, ranked one place above his opponent in the ATP Rankings, leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 10-3. The World No. 33 has won each of their seven most recent meetings, with Kohlschreiber’s last success coming at the 2008 Rolex Paris Masters.

FRANCE 3, ITALY 1
Venue: Valletta Cambiaso ASD, Genoa, ITA (clay – outdoor)

Lucas Pouille came from a set down to send France into the semi-finals, defeating Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-3.

The World No. 11 became just the third player to beat Fognini in a Davis Cup singles match on clay, in a match lasting just over three hours with 13 breaks of serve. France has now won six consecutive Davis Cup ties, two shy of its all-time record win streak from 2000-2002.

“I think I was more consistent over the match. I had a tough first set but I kept trying and was playing better and better and it was a great effort to come back and win this one,” Pouille told DavisCup.com. “We knew that before coming here it would be a tough tie, but we gave our best and now we are going to try and defend our title.”

The loss marks Italy’s third successive exit from the team competition at the quarter-finals stage. Italy lost to eventual runner-up Belgium in 2017 and 2016 champion Argentina two years ago.

France will host the winner of the tie between Spain and Germany, from 14-16 September, for a place in the Davis Cup final.

If the ending of last year’s Grand Prix Hassan II is any sign of what is to come this week in Marrakech, fans will be in for an absolute treat.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who held five championship points against Borna Coric in last year’s epic final at the tournament, will get another chance to claim glory in Morocco. The third-seeded German will begin his title assault against local wild card Lamine Ouahab.

Top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas pursues his second ATP World Tour title on his beloved red clay. According to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone, the left-handed Spaniard ranks fifth on the Tour in the past 52 weeks with 19 victories on the surface. The 30-year-old advanced to the final at the Ecuador Open in Quito earlier this year before losing to compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena.

Ramos-Vinolas will face a tricky test in Moroccan wild card Amine Ahouda. The World No. 718, who is 20 years old, won his only tour-level match earlier this year in Davis Cup against Top 100 player Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. Kyle Edmund, the second seed who broke through with a run to the semi-finals at the Australian Open, will look to kick off his clay-court campaign on a high note against left-handed Czech Jiri Vesely.

View Draw

Two unseeded 2018 ATP World Tour titlists have been drawn against seeded players in the first round of the only African tour-level event.

Frenchman Gilles Simon, who triumphed at the Tata Open Maharashtra in the first week of the season, takes on sixth-seeded compatriot Benoit Paire. And while Paire is placed 24 spots higher in the ATP Rankings, Simon leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-3, with their past five matches coming at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level (Simon leads 4-1). It will be their first clash since the 2015 Rolex Paris Masters.

Past Five Champions

Simon won this tournament in 2008 when it was held at Casablanca. The only other former champion also in the draw is Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (2014).

Mirza Basic, who earned his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Diema Xtra Sofia Open in February, will face fifth seed Robin Haase in the first round. The pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series is knotted at 1-1.

Haase is the only player who is seeded in both the singles and doubles draws. The Dutchman is No. 5 in singles and part of the fourth-seeded team with compatriot Matwe Middelkoop — the team, like Basic, won in Sofia, and also triumphed alongside Simon in Pune to begin 2018.

Another player to look out for is fourth seed Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman, who is six tour-level wins away from No. 500, will begin his efforts in Marrakech against Italian Thomas Fabbiano. The 31-year-old, who hasn’t claimed glory since 2016 Antwerp, will attempt to win his 15th ATP World Tour title.