ATP Tour

Cilic breaks Murray's record, becomes oldest grass-court Challenger champion

Marin Cilic became the oldest grass-court champion in the history of the ATP Challenger Tour on Saturday in Nottingham.

The former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings defeated Shintaro Mochizuki 6-2, 6-3 in the final to win the Lexus Nottingham Open. At 36 years and eight months, Cilic broke Andy Murray’s record for oldest grass-court Challenger titlist (36 years and one month, two years ago in Nottingham).

“Beautiful match, really high quality,” Cilic said. “To play in a final like this is definitely a huge accomplishment. For me, this win definitely means a lot. It gives me a lot of confidence to play five matches in a row. I can take this great confidence of winning into Wimbledon.”

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The moment Marin Cilic becomes the first Croatian to win a Challenger title on grass!#ATPChallenger | @cilic_marin pic.twitter.com/arJNBvsAcg

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 21, 2025

Cilic saved a match point in the semi-finals against Martin Landaluce and carried his momentum into the championship match. The first Croatian to win a grass-court Challenger saved the only break point he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

This year’s Girona Challenger champion became the seventh player to claim ATP Challenger Tour events on clay and grass in the same season. He has lifted four Challenger trophies in his career. Before Girona, he had not triumphed at the level since May 2007 in Rijeka.

Cilic on Monday will return to the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since August 2023. The 21-time tour-level titlist, who was unranked last January, will climb 16 spots to World No. 85.

In other Challenger action, Carlos Taberner, Filip Misolic and Alex Barrena also won their second titles of the season at that level.

Taberner won the Emilia-Romagna Tennis Cup in Sassuolo, Italy while Misolic triumphed at the Enea Poznan Open in Poland. Barrena claimed the Bolivia Open.

Taberner beat former No. 23 Dusan Lajovic 7-6(1), 6-2 in the final to secure his return to the Top 100 for the first time since July 2022. The 27-year-old Spaniard is a nine-time Challenger champion.

Misolic, who reached the third round of Roland Garros as a qualifier and fell to Novak Djokovic in Paris, built upon that form in Poznan with a dominant run, not dropping a set all week. The 23-year-old Austrian downed Dalibor Svrcina 6-2, 6-0 in a 74-minute final to cap his perfect week. Misolic is 17-2 since the beginning of May across all levels.

The 22-year-old Barrena also continued his run of form by securing his second Challenger crown in three months. The Argentine overcame Franco Roncadelli 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the final to win the Bolivia Open, which has earned the ATP Challenger Tour's 'Best of South America' award the past two seasons.

Frenchman Titouan Droguet was crowned champion on home soil at the Royan Atlantique Open. The 24-year-old ousted Dimitar Kuzmanov 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the championship match to lift his second Challenger title.

^{Titouan Droguet triumphs in front of a packed crowd at the Royan Challenger. Credit: Gregory Picout}