Tennis News

#NextGenATP Budkov Kjaer surging towards Jeddah with standout Challenger season

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer is quickly proving himself as one of the brightest young talents on the ATP Challenger Tour.

On Sunday, the 19-year-old claimed his fourth title of the season at the Open de Vendee in France, where he stormed past American Patrick Kypson 6-0, 6-3 in just 54 minutes. The Norwegian is now level with Borna Coric and Emilio Nava atop the 2025 Challenger-title leaderboard.

“I’m super grateful and super happy to get the trophy here,” said Budkov Kjaer. “It was a great week with a lot of great tennis played and it was a super nice tournament.”

Up two places to fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, Budkov Kjaer improved his chances of qualifying for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. The 20-and-under event will be held 17-21 December.

PIF ATP LIVE RACE TO JEDDAH

Budkov Kjaer won his maiden Challenger title in Glasgow in February and returned to the winner’s circle in July with back-to-back triumphs in Tampere and Astana, becoming the youngest Norwegian to claim multiple Challenger titles. Seeded seventh in Mouilleron le Captif, the 2024 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion dropped just one set all week to add to his breakthrough season.

Former Top 20 stars Carreno Busta, Garin win Challenger titles
Tour-veterans Pablo Carreno Busta and Cristian Garin each triumphed on home soil. Carreno Busta, former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won the Ferrero Challenger in Villena, where he rallied past Frenchmen Hugo Grenier 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the championship match. The 34-year-old Carreno Busta is a 14-time Challenger champion.

<img alt=”Pablo Carreno Busta in action at the Ferrero Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/06/15/17/carreno-busta-villenach-2025.jpg” />
^{Pablo Carreno Busta in action at the Ferrero Challenger. Credit: Ferrero Challenger}

Garin captured his third Challenger title of the season in memorable fashion, by winning at home in Antofagasta, Chile. The 29-year-old needed a deciding set in three of his matches, including a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 final victory against Facundo Diaz Acosta.

<img alt=”Cristian Garin celebrates winning the Antofagasta Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/06/15/22/garin-antofagastach-2025.jpg” />
^{Cristian Garin celebrates winning the Antofagasta Challenger. Credit: Miguel Zamora/Legión Sudamericana}

2024 NCAA singles champ Zheng extends impressive run of form, captures third title since August
American Michael Zheng, the reigning NCAA singles champion, is making a splash on the Challenger circuit. The 21-year-old, who is a senior at Columbia University, claimed his third title in two months. Zheng has won 16 of his past 17 matches, with his lone loss being a qualifying defeat at the US Open. Zheng did not drop a set in Tiburon, where he beat Tyler Zink 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

The winner of this year’s Chicago and Columbus Challengers, Zheng is up to No. 178 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, setting him up for a new career high.

<img alt=”Michael Zheng wins the Tiburon Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/06/15/26/zheng-tiburonch-2025.jpg” />
^{Michael Zheng wins the Tiburon Challenger. Credit: Natalie Kim}

Mikrut set for career high following second Challenger title of 2025
Luka Mikrut won his second Challenger title of the year at the Braga Open in Portugal. Mikrut, 21, stopped Lithuanian Vilius Gaubas from back-to-back title runs in the final, which the Croatian won 6-3, 6-4. Gaubas was crowned champion at the previous week’s Lisbon Challenger. Mikrut is up 59 places to No. 180 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

<img alt=”Luka Mikrut signs autographs following his title run at the Braga Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/06/15/32/mikrut-bragach-2025.jpg” />
^{Luka Mikrut at the Braga Challenger. Credit: Eduardo Oliveira/FPT}

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Norrie out in Shanghai Masters third round

Britain’s Cameron Norrie is left to rue missed opportunities as he is beaten by rising teenage star Learner Tien in the Shanghai Masters third round.

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Rinderknech defeats Zverev again, advances in Shanghai

Arthur Rinderknech earned his second consecutive victory against Alexander Zverev on Monday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he rallied past the German 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The Frenchman beat the World No. 3 in five sets at Wimbledon earlier this year and sent the 28-year-old packing once again with a front-footed display at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai. After losing the opening set, Rinderknech won 24 of 29 points at net in sets two and three and looked fresher in the deciding set, with Zverev regularly bending over between points.

Rinderknech has earned a career-best 23 wins in 2025 and is into the fourth round at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the third time. The 30-year-old, who is 3-18 against Top 10 opponents, reached that stage in Toronto and Paris last season.

“This is huge,” Rinderknech said. “I had my first Top 5 win at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon against Sascha and it happens again. I guess I am a bit lucky against him and able to play my best tennis. I need to play my best tennis to beat a guy like Sascha, at No. 3 for many years, such a steady player and a very good player. I am very happy.”

Rinderknech is up five spots to No. 49 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and will next play Jiri Lehecka after the Czech downed Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4. Lehecka has advanced to the last 16 at six of the nine Masters 1000 events.

Zverev was the highest-ranked player left in the draw after Jannik Sinner retired on Sunday due to cramp. The German leaves Shanghai fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 1,475 points clear of 10th-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is the first player outside the Top 8 cut with ninth-placed Jack Draper sidelined for the rest of the season. Zverev is a two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion.

In other action, #NextGenATP American Learner Tien continued his good form with a 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph against Cameron Norrie. The lefty has won seven of his past eight matches, reaching his maiden ATP Tour final in Beijing last week. He will next play Daniil Medvedev or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Shanghai, where he is competing at a career-high No. 36.

Tien saved eight of 10 break points in the match, including all six in the second set. Tien was up a break at 4-3 in the second set and was down love-40 before rallying to hold. He then broke Norrie for the fourth time in the match.

“I have a lot of confidence right now,” Tien said. “I have been able to steal some matches where I have been down pretty big and that really feeds my confidence going into these matches, I can find a way through. I think that is the biggest thing.”

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De Minaur, Auger-Aliassime cruise in Shanghai, boost Turin hopes

With a potential spot at the Nitto ATP Finals looming in the background, Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime are showing no sign of taking their eyes off the ball at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The duo on Monday each maintained their respective fast starts to the Chinese ATP Masters 1000 with a commanding straight-sets third-round win. The seventh-seeded De Minaur eased past Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 7-5 in humid conditions, while 12th seed Auger-Aliassime sank Jesper de Jong 6-4, 7-5. Neither De Minaur nor Auger-Aliassime has dropped a set across their opening two rounds in Shanghai.

Mr. Consistent 😎@alexdeminaur books his seventh ATP Masters 1000 fourth round of the season with a 6-1 7-5 win over Majchrzak.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/uWgdE8yGe5

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 6, 2025

The 26-year-old De Minaur broke Majchrzak’s serve five times en route to his Tour-leading 36th win on hard courts in 2025, with two of those breaks coming after he had dropped serve himself to fall 3-4 behind in the second set. The Australian is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and remains well placed to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second consecutive year.

“I came into this week knowing how tough the conditions were going to be,” said De Minaur after his one-hour, 27-minute victory. “So the mindset ultimately is surviving, finding ways, and getting ready for battles every time you step out on the court. There is no such thing as easy matches, especially in these conditions, so I’m glad I was able to compose myself in the second set, get the break back, and finish it off in two. If we had gone into a third, it would have been very physical.”

De Minaur will take on Nuno Borges in the fourth round. The Portuguese ended home #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng’s run with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 triumph to reach the fourth round at a Masters 1000 for the fourth time in his career, and for the second time on hard courts after Montreal 2024. Should De Minaur defeat Borges in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash, he will hit 50 tour-level wins in a single season for the first time.

Auger-Aliassime also enjoyed a good day on return in China, where he converted three of four break points he earned against De Jong. The Canadian, who was helped to his feet by a ball kid after slipping in the second set, also won 77 per cent (30/39) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Now 10-2 since the start of August (with both defeats in that tally coming at the hands of Jannik Sinner), Auger-Aliassime will face eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti or 26th seed Luciano Darderi for a quarter-final spot. The 25-year-old is 10th in the Live Race, just 580 points behind eighth-placed Musetti, as he seeks a Nitto ATP Finals return following his 2022 debut.

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Ball kid to the rescue! Auger-Aliassime gets a helping hand in Shanghai

A ball kid enjoyed his moment in the sun on Monday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he came to the aid of Felix Auger-Aliassime in the closing stages of the Canadian’s clash against Jesper de Jong.

Serving at 6-4, 4-5, 15/30, the No. 13 player in the PIF ATP Rankings put on his running shoes to track down a drop shot from the Dutchman but was unable to make up the ground. After lunging forward to get a racquet on the ball, Auger-Aliassime took a slight tumble and found himself sitting on the hard courts at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Just as he was preparing to return to his feet, a ball kid made his way onto court and offered his hands to the 25-year-old, who was successfully pulled to his feet, with the ball kid receiving loud cheers from the crowd.

Auger-Aliassime went on to seal a 6-4, 7-5 win and will next play Lorenzo Musetti or Luciano Darderi. Auger-Aliassime is 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is aiming to make his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 9-16 November. He holds a 36-19 record on the season, according to Infosys ATP Stats and married long-term partner Nina last month.

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Collect returns in Shanghai with a fresh new look

Collect is back – and it’s getting even more exciting.

After debuting this summer, the experience returns in Shanghai with a new, more personal game mechanic: showing support for your favourite players.

We’re especially excited about this next chapter because it’s been shaped by fans. Here’s what you need to know:

What is Collect?
Collect is the official collection game for tennis fans, created by the ATP in collaboration with Trace. In it, fans can unlock collectibles and the chance to win rewards from the season’s biggest events. It was created to give fans, no matter where they are in the world, a way to mark their love of the game.

What’s new?
In Canada and Cincinnati, the experience centred around collecting matches. Now, it’s all about supporting your favourite players. Each day, you will be able to tell us who you’re rooting for in that day’s matchups. Once you’ve locked in your picks, you’ll receive your digital collectible from the day and entries to win rewards.

Rewards
The more you show your support, the more rewards you’ll have a chance of winning. In Shanghai we have some amazing prizes up for grabs, including official Rolex Shanghai Masters caps, towels and signed balls. There will also be some other surprises along the way.

When does it start?
Collect will start with the quarter-finals through the final of the Rolex Shanghai Masters (9-12 October). Each day’s picks will be open from midnight Shanghai time:

00:00 Shanghai
18:00 CET (-1)
17:00 UK (-1)
12:00 ET (-1)

How can I get involved?
Collect is completely free and open to everyone. Head to https://app.trace.fan/collect/shanghai to get set!

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'I'm at breaking point' – Kasatkina ends season early

World number 19 Daria Kasatkina says the schedule is “too much, mentally and emotionally”.

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