Seven players have managed to win matches on both the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Tour in 2018. Among them such prominent names as Martin Klizan, Gael Monfils or Bernard Tomic.
Learning on the ATP Challenger Tour means learning for the even bigger ATP Tour. Recent examples include Yoshihito Nishioka and Bernard Tomic, who both won the title in Shenzhen and Chengdu on Sunday, in 250cc tournaments. This year, however, have also been successful with challengers.
Tomic, who defended four match points against Fabio Fognini as a qualifier in the final and jumped 47 places up to position 76 in the ATP world rankings, won the first edition of the challenger in Rafael Nadal’s Academy this summer. Nishioka, who also entered the main peloton after qualifying, improved by 76 ranks to 95th place, the Japanese had already been successful at the Challenger in Gimcheon (South Korea) in 2018.
Tomic and Nishioka are not alone: Five other players have also shown themselves to be successful on both levels: French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato (wins in Umag and Budapest on the ATP Tour, Challenger in Santiago de Chile), his compatriot Matteo Berrettini (Gstaad and Bergamo), Martin Klizan (Kitzbühel and Challenger in Indian Wells) and Gael Monfils (Doha and Kaohsiung).
Pablo Andujar stands out from this group, crowning his comeback with success at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Marrakech and the Challenger at the Academy of Juan Carlos Ferrero in Alicante.