ATP Tour

Wimbledon fairy tale Holmgren continues momentum, claims Granby Challenger

Three weeks removed from reaching the Wimbledon third round as a qualifier, August Holmgren returned to the ATP Challenger Tour winner’s circle on Sunday when he won the Les Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby.

The 27-year-old completed a dream run at the All England Club, saving three match points in the qualifying third round and matching that feat against 21st seed Tomas Machac in the second round.

Playing his first tournament since that Wimbledon surprise, Holmgren went all the way to the title at the Granby Challenger in Canada, ousting home hope Liam Draxl 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Draxl was aiming for his second consecutive title after winning the Winnipeg Challenger last week.

“The key was to keep my momentum from Wimbledon going,” Holmgren said. “I had a very strong concept of who I wanted to be as a tennis player and the challenge was to continue with that on another surface. To use my serve with confidence, going for big serves even in tough moments. To trust that I need to be aggressive off the return when I can so I can continue to dictate what happens in the point. I think I succeeded in big moments to do that.”

A former University of San Diego standout, Holmgren reached the 2022 NCAA singles championship and fell to Ben Shelton. Following his title run in Canada, Holmgren is No. 146 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“I’m still in the process of trying to do play at a consistently high level for a long period of time," said the three-time Challenger champion. "I came into Wimbledon with a 6-14 record this year, and what the best players in the world do is they can maintain their high level throughout the year. I maintained it for three weeks now, so I still need to prove that I can maintain it for a longer time.”

In other action, 20-year-old Spaniard Daniel Merida captured his maiden Challenger title with a triumph on home soil at the Open Ciudad de Pozoblanco — a tournament that Holmgren won last year. The Madrid native, seeded fifth, downed China’s Sun Fajing 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

^{Daniel Merida celebrates winning his first Challenger title. Credit: Antonio López}

Merida has tallied a 16-8 Challenger-match record this season and is now at a career-high No. 175 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

Slovakian Lukas Klein needed a deciding set in three of his five matches at the Internazionali di Tennis San Marino Open, where the 27-year-old claimed the trophy after a hard-fought week. Klein beat #NextGenATP Dino Prizmic 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Klein said. “I really enjoyed the whole week. I played some tough matches and I’m really happy that I managed to win all of them. It wasn’t easy and there were some bad moments, but I managed to overcome it.”

^{Lukas Klein triumphs at the San Marino Challenger. Credit: Luca Maccapani}

Prizmic, 19, was aiming to become the first Croatian teenager to claim four Challenger titles. He has reached at least the final in his past four outings, helping him rise to fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. Prizmic is aiming for his maiden trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.

Jan Choinski captured his second Challenger title this month and fifth overall by winning the Dutch Open Tournament in Bunschoten. The 29-year-old Briton, who claimed the Troyes Challenger earlier this month, beat Kimmer Coppejans 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the Bunschoten title match.

Choinski on top 🏆

The Brit battles past Coppejans 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to lift the trophy in Bunschoten#ATPChallenger | @the_LTA pic.twitter.com/N3ZFO4mxpV

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 20, 2025