It was a weekend of comebacks on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Pablo Llamas Ruiz, who earned his maiden Challenger title Sunday at the Open Castilla y Leon in Segovia, saved three match points in the semi-finals before becoming the youngest Spanish winner at that level since Carlos Alcaraz in 2021. Vit Kopriva fought back from a set and a double break down in the Internazionali di Tennis Verona final to capture his second Challenger crown.
Llamas Ruiz, 20, defeated seventh seed Antoine Escoffier 7-6(9), 7-6(5) in the final to win on home soil and rise to a career-high No. 146 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. In Saturday’s semi-final, the #NextGenATP star fended off three match points at 4-5, 0/40 in the deciding set against Nicolas Moreno De Alboran before tallying five consecutive points and later closing the match in a final-set tie-break.
Following his triumph in Segovia, Llamas Ruiz rose to 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race. The Spaniard is aiming to make a maiden appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals.
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Kopriva rallied from a set down in his final three matches to win the Challenger 100 event in Verona, Italy. The Czech survived Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the championship match after dropping just one point behind his first serve in the final set.
The 26-year-old Kopriva, who won his maiden Challenger title last year at home in Prostejov and later reached a career-high No. 124, got into Verona as an alternate before embarking on a week to remember.
“Amazing week, I am speechless because I was 6-1, 5-2 down. I just fought and I won the title,” Kopriva said. “I didn’t even know if I was coming to Verona because I didn’t get in on the first [entry] list, so it was a very special moment to be here and hold the trophy.”
At the Finaport Zug Open, top seed Arthur Rinderknech also had to claw his way to the title. The 28-year-old moved past Belgian Joris De Loore 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win his fifth Challenger trophy.
“It was a very close match,” Rinderknech said. “I started well but then got broken in the first set and all of a sudden I was behind in the score. I just had to stay there, focussing on my serve. I continued to serve very well, which allowed me to win the third set and take the title.”
Arthur Rinderknech wins the ATP Challenger Tour 125 event in Zug, Switzerland. Credit: Fabian Meierhans
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