Fonseca, Bublik, Coric and more… looking back at the 2025 Challenger 175 Championship | ATP Tour
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Fonseca, Bublik, Coric and more…Looking back at the 2025 Challenger 175 Championship
Kovacevic, Michelsen, Petš Perikad won the championship
December 30, 2025
ImagenShop Photography Agency/ATC
Joao Fonseca captured his third ATP Challenger trophy at the Arizona Tennis Classic in March.
Written by ATP Staff
The likes of Joao Fonseca and Alexander Bublik are using the ATP Challenger 175 level as a springboard to bigger stages in 2025. They’re not the only stars to shine at the highest level of the ATP Challenger Championship. Borna Coric scored an unforgettable victory over Stan Wawrinka in a thrilling Aix-en-Provence final.
Fonseca, Bublik and Coric are three of the six 2025 Challenger 175 champions. ATPTour.com looks back at last season’s champions in this division.
Fonseca enters Challenger record in Phoenix
Fonseca achieved milestones during his breakout season, including a historic win at the Arizona Tennis Classic. The Brazilian became the second youngest player from South America (after Juan Martin del Potro) to win three ATP Challenger titles.
“It’s a good result in this challenge, 175 points, but looking at the rankings of the players, it could easily be ATP 250,” Fonseca said in Phoenix. “It’s so hard, so hard.”
South American-born players have won three Challenger titles at 18 and under:
Andre Agassi made a special appearance at the Phoenix Challenger, with the former world number one performing an honorary coin toss ahead of his quarter-final match against Hugo Gaston in Fonseca. In the final, Fonseca defeated Alexander Bublik 7-6(5), 7-6(0).
Kovacevic wins biggest title of career
The same week Fonseca won in Phoenix, American Alexander Kovacevic claimed the biggest title of his career at the Cap Cana Challenge in the Dominican Republic. Kovacevic, like Fonseca, defeated four top 100 players on his way to the title. The former University of Illinois standout defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-3 in a 71-minute final at the Copa Cap Cana Ciudad Destino.
“The conditions here are very, very difficult to prepare for,” a relieved Kovacevic said after winning the trophy. “In my quarter-final I cramped at the end and that might have been the difference. If I had cramped a little worse, I wouldn’t have been able to continue or I might have had to retire.”
Coric beats Wawrinka in final set tie-break to win in Aix-en-Provence
Fan favorites Borna Coric and Stan Wawrinka square off in a championship match at the Aix-en-Provence Open. Coric, the former PIF ATP No. 12, defeated the three-time Grand Slam champion 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4) after three hours and 11 minutes of intense action on French clay.
Coric won three consecutive Challenger titles from February to March and then added to that tally in Aix-en-Provence. The Croatian is one of six players in 2025 who have won four Challenger titles.
Born champion 💪@borna_coric rule supreme @OpenduPaysdAixwon the fourth challenger championship in this season’s tour! #ATPchallenger pic.twitter.com/GpDPt7dws4
— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) May 4, 2025
Michelsen wins maiden clay-court title with dominant week in Estoril
Alex Michelsen celebrated a milestone moment at the Millennium Estoril Open, where the American won his first clay-court title. Michelsen didn’t drop a set all week, and after winning the title, he returned to a career-high ranking of 32nd.
“My mentality on clay has improved since last year. I was a little scared of it, but now I enjoy it,” Michelsen said after beating Italian Andrea Pellegrino 6-4, 6-4 in the final. “I came here early because I lost in the first round in Madrid, so I probably had five or six days of preparation before the fight, so I was very well prepared this week.”
Bublik gears up before making his mark on ATP Tour
Bublik is having the best season of his career, winning four Tour-level titles and rising to a career-high No. 11 in November. Bublik built momentum at Challenger tournaments before surging in the second half, including in Phoenix, where he reached the final, and then on the clay courts of Turin, where the Kazakh won the Piedmont Intesa San Paolo Open.
“For me, it’s just about maintaining my level and getting back to where I’ve been for most of my career,” Bublik said after defeating Bouyuncchakot 6-3, 6-3 in the Turin final. “This is just a small step towards what I really want to achieve.”
Mpetshi Perricard scores home win in Bordeaux
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard powered on to victory at home at the BNP Paribas Bordeaux Primrose with a stellar serving performance. The 6-foot-10 Frenchman blasted 26 aces in the final to defeat former No. 16 Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5, during which he also saved 11 of 12 break points, according to Infosys ATP statistics.
Bublik and Mpetshi Perricard’s winning form was soon put to the test when the pair faced off in the first round of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg, just two days after each lifting the trophy. Mpetshi Perricard won the Hamburg match in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series to improve to 2-1.
