Tian, Joao Fonseca and other talents move from challenger to Grand Slam breakthrough in 2025 | ATP Tour
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Talents like Tien, Fonseca and more move from challenger to Grand Slam breakthrough in 2025
Team USA and Brazil both started the season outside the top 100 and are now in the top 30
December 16, 2025
Paul Crocker/AFP via Getty Images
Tian was all smiles after a dramatic five-set victory over Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open.
Written by ATP Staff
An exciting part of every season is discovering which emerging talents are taking the spotlight on the sport’s biggest stage. The ATP Challenger Tour has long been a springboard for such emerging talent before becoming stars, and in 2025, several players have turned Challenge success into breakthroughs at four majors this season. ATPTour.com highlights five players who embody this improvement.
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In 2024, the American compiled a 35-9 record and won three championships in Challengers. After his outstanding performance in Challengers, Tian quickly rose to the highest level of professional tennis. He made a splash at the Australian Open, where as a qualifier he reached the fourth round at No. 121 in the PIF ATP Rankings. One of his highlights in Melbourne came in the second round, when he defeated three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev in five thrilling sets.
Tenn, then 19, became the youngest player to reach the fourth round in Melbourne since Rafael Nadal in 2005. He also became the second youngest American player to advance to the round of 16 in the first Grand Slam match of the season, second only to Pete Sampras who reached the same stage at the age of 18.
“This is beyond my expectations for this week,” Tian said in Melbourne. “You go into every game believing you can win, but going into week two it’s great.
Joao Fonseca
Fonseca quickly climbed into the top 25 in the PIF ATP rankings. His first tournament of the 2025 season was the Canberra Challenge, where he won the title without losing a set. After winning the Next Generation ATP Finals at PIF, he became the second player after Jannik Sinner to win the subsequent event.
The Brazilian also won the Challenger 175 event in Phoenix in March and has reached at least the second round of all four majors this year. His best Grand Slam results were in the third round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. In Melbourne, Fonseca stunned ninth seed Andrei Rublev in straight sets, marking the teenager’s first major main draw win. Fonseca started last season ranked 145th in the PIF ATP rankings, and entering 2026, he is ranked 24th in the world.
August Holmgren
It’s been a July to remember for the Dane, who interestingly preceded his success at the ATP Challenger Tour this season with a Grand Slam breakthrough. Holmgren went 3-10 in Challenger play in the first half of the year, but turned his season around with a Cinderella third-round performance at Wimbledon.
Holmgren, ranked 192nd in the PIF ATP rankings at the time, saved three match points against Yosuke Watanuki in the third round of qualifying and again in the second round of the main draw against 21st seed Tomas Machak. Two weeks after Wimbledon, Holmgren lifted the trophy at the hard-court Granby Challenger.
“The key is to keep the momentum going at Wimbledon,” Holmgren said. “As a tennis player I had a very strong idea of who I wanted to be and the challenge was to continue that idea on another surface.”
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August Holmgren celebrates his victory over Tomas Machak at Wimbledon. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Huang Coleman
The 21-year-old made history at the US Open by becoming the first Hong Kong player to win a major main draw match. Ranked 173rd in the world at the time, Joshua Wong realized his dream and reached the third round in the qualifiers in New York. Huang, still seeking his first Challenger title, forced No. 15 seed Andrei Rublev into a deciding set before bowing out of his first major main draw match that he will always remember.
“This is an important moment for me, my family and the people of Hong Kong,” Wong said in a feature published on usopen.org and ATPTour.com.
Jacob Fearnley
The Briton reached the third round at both the Australian Open and French Open – no surprise to those following Fearnley’s 2024 ATP Challenger results. Last season, Fearnley posted a 27-3 season record on the Challenger Tour, including four titles. He became the third player (at least 25 games played) to end the season with a winning percentage of 90% or above.
Fearnley knocked out some big names in the third round in Melbourne and Paris. In Australia, Fearnley beat local favorite Nick Kyrgios in the first round – the same round the Briton beat 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in Paris. Fearnley then scuppered France’s Hugo Humbert’s hopes of a second-round tie at the clay-court Grand Slam.
