Jakob Amilon had a literal home court advantage at this week’s $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 22-year-old Swede and college tennis star at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas received a main draw wild card into the tournament being held on his campus courts. Amilon put up a strong fight in the latter stages of his opening round against Zhe Li of China before falling in straight sets.

Despite the loss, he was able to take plenty of positives from the experience.

“To get a great tournament like this with all of these pro players is good for our city, for the school and for the program,” said Amilon. “You learn a lot from playing guys at this level, so it’s one of the most fun weeks of the year for me.”

Amilon is in his final year on the men’s tennis team at UNLV and is one of the top players in the region. But while he’s competed against some of the best college tennis players in the country, he admitted that Challenger players are at a level he doesn’t see regularly.

“The serves and returns are the biggest difference,” he explained. “They hit more aces and get more first serves in, so it’s way more difficult to break. And as soon as they get a chance on the second serve, they jump all over it and put pressure on you.”

The Swede will primarily focus on leading the UNLV team to big wins over the next few months, but aims to be competing in pro tournaments regularly when he graduates in May.  Although his eventual goal is to be a staple in Challenger events and beyond, he plans on training like a player at this level for the remainder of his senior year.

“The thing you notice most with these guys is the way they practise and the work they put in, their attitude and the effort they put into their tennis. They’re so focused and put 100 per cent into everything,” said Amilon. “It’s really cool to watch.”

After winning his first Challenger title last month on his home courts at Ohio State University, college tennis star Mikael Torpegaard had another big run on a different college campus.

The 20-year-old from Denmark is competing at this week’s $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada. After receiving a wild card into the main draw, Torpegaard upset sixth seed Denis Kudla and another American in Austin Krajicek to reach the quarter-finals. Although he fell in three sets on Friday to fourth seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, he was confident his first trip to Las Vegas wouldn’t be his last. 

“I’m privileged to have gotten a wild card into the main draw and really grateful for it,” said Torpegaard. “Everything has been organised so well this week and I couldn’t be happier to be here.”

Torpegaard is competing in just the second ATP Challenger Tour event of his career. His first one came last month at the $50,000 event in Columbus, Ohio, where he used his main draw wild card to storm through to the title. The dream week culminated with a win over top seed Benjamin Becker in the final, marking his first victory over a Top 100 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“Winning there definitely gave me a lot of confidence towards moving forward not just in college, but also on the ATP World Tour,” said Torpegaard. “It gave me the belief that I can play at this level of tennis, which is really important for me.”

The week in Columbus wasn’t his first time competing against the world’s best players, though. Torpegaard had a memorable Davis Cup debut for Denmark in September 2015, squaring off against both Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer in a tie against Spain. Although he lost both matches, he said the weekend on court was invaluable.

“It was such a cool experience,” said Torpegaard. “Playing against two great champions gave me insight about what it takes to be a top player, how physical tennis is at that level and different aspects of what I need to improve in my game.”

Although Torpegaard will focus mainly on leading Ohio State to another NCAA title this season, he plans to keep his hand in the pro game. The Dane said he will compete in several Challengers this fall and still has an eye towards competing in the world’s biggest events.

“I just want to continue playing these Challengers and building my confidence,” said Torpegaard. “I’m hopeful about building up a head start by the time I’m ready to be on the tour full-time.”

Top seed David Goffin, who is currently No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and in contention for one of the three remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, overcame a challenge from qualifier Marius Copil to prevail 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the European Open on Friday. Copil fought hard until the end, saving five match points before Goffin served out the match.

“He served some bombs,” Goffin said. “I really needed to find my footwork and my returns. I tried to make him go for some wrong shots, go for winners from tough positions.”

Goffin will play Diego Schwartzman, who beat fourth seed Pablo Cuevas, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles this year, 7-6(8), 6-3.

“It will be a tough match tomorrow. He’s a small guy like me, who likes to play on the baseline,” Goffin said of Schwartzman. “There will be a lot of rallies. It could be a very interesting match.”

Third seed Richard Gasquet remains on course to reach his third ATP World Tour final of the season after he beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes. The Frenchman is trying to finish in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for a fifth time in six years (except 2014) and eighth time overall (2005-07). He will meet #NextGen star Kyle Edmund, who comes into the match on a high, having topped Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first ATP World Tour semi-final.

”It was a tough match for me against a good player, who won a Challenger a few weeks ago,” said Gasquet. “I knew how dangerous he was, having watched him win against Gilles [Simon] this week. I am very happy with the way I played, particularly in the second set, when he broke me at 4-2. It’s a good victory for me. It’s a great tournament and I hope to reach the final.”

Edmund, who is enjoying a career year, improved to 1-3 in quarter-final appearances at ATP World Tour events this year. He twice fell to Andy Murray (Queen’s, Beijing) and lost to Tomas Berdych in Doha.

Nestor/Roger-Vasselin Advance In Doubles

Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin rebounded to beat Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-8 in the doubles semi-finals. It was a setback for Marach/Martin, who are 11^th in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. They will lose grounds on No. 10 Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who are into the Moscow final.

Juan Martin del Potro withstood 12 aces from Ivo Karlovic on Friday at the If Stockholm Open to record his 26th match win of a comeback season, 6-3, 6-4 in 71 minutes. Del Potro moves on to face second seed Grigor Dimitrov. “I was expecting a tie-break in this match,” said del Potro. “But I’m happy to get the rest for tomorrow when I play Grigor.”

Del Potro leads Dimitrov 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, including a grass-court win at this year’s MercedesCup.

Dimitrov completed his fifth win in seven meetings against Kevin Anderson 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2 in two hours and 18 minutes. “It’s never easy when you serve for the match and you lose it,” said Dimitrov, who lost four straight games after he served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. “There was some very poor serving form me today, that’s all I can say. I know Kevin was stepping in on pretty much everything, so the match could have gone either way.”

Fourth seed and #NextGen star Alexander Zverev beat qualifier Tobias Kamke 6-3, 7-6(5) in an all-German quarter-final to reach the final four. Kamke served for the second set at 5-4, but his countryman broke back and secured the win on his second match point. Zverev clinched his first ATP World Tour title earlier this month at the St. Petersburg Open (d. Wawrinka).

“It was a tough match, a good win,” said Zverev, a nominee for Most Improved Player of the Year. “Tobias played a very good match and if he keeps playing like this, he will surely return to the Top 100 again.

“The Swedish fans are great. They like to stay up late and come to support us. In Bastad I had a good run a year ago, so I can say that I play well in Sweden.”

The teenager will play an in-form Jack Sock, who faced only two break points in beating Gastao Elias 6-4, 6-4.

“Gastao beat Monfils the other day. He’s very consistent and makes you play a lot of shots. I was lucky to get through in straights,” Sock said. “The court has been playing pretty slow this week, which neutralises the power.”

Pavic/Venus Oust Top Seeds

Mate Pavic and Michael Venus beat top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-2, 6-4 to move into the doubles final. Soares and regular partner Jamie Murray have already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, while Pavic/Venus are No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and attempting to qualify for the year-end showdown for the first time.