ATP Tour

Kypson joins season's four-time Challenger winners, punches ticket to Australian Open

Patrick Kypson became the fifth player to win four ATP Challenger Tour titles this season on Sunday when he was crowned champion at the HPP Open 2025 in Helsinki, Finland.

With his victory, the 26-year-old clinched the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, a five-week battle amongst Americans to earn a spot at the season’s first major. Kypson also won the wild card challenge in 2023.

“It feels really good,” Kypson said after his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 final victory against home hope Otto Virtanen. “It was a really tough one, and I’m just happy I was able to win today. It’s never easy to play against the home favourite, but I knew what to expect. It was fun out there. It was a great atmosphere and a close match until the end.”

The home hope Virtanen was aiming to become the second player in Challenger history to win his first nine title matches (Pablo Carreno Busta, 11). But the 26-year-old Kypson denied that quest and continued his surge in form. Two weeks ago, Kypson won the Sioux Falls Challenger, an indoor event in South Dakota. Following his triumph in Helsinki, Kypson is up to a career-high No. 117 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

From mid-January to mid-April, Kypson was sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot and as a result, he fell as low as No. 455 in the PIF ATP Rankings during that span.

Challenger Singles Titles Leaders, 2025

Kypson’s countryman Mitchell Krueger also rallied from a set down to return to the winner’s circle. Krueger spoiled the hopes of #NextGenATP 18-year-old Darwin Blanch, overcoming the American teen 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1 at the Knoxville Challenger in Tennessee. Krueger has won all six of his Challenger trophies on American soil.

^{Mitchell Krueger wins the Challenger 50 event in Knoxville, Tennessee. Credit: Knoxville Challenger}

Portugal’s Henrique Rocha won his second Challenger trophy at the UNICHARM TROPHY EHIME INTERNATIONAL OPEN TENNIS in Matsuyama, Japan, where the 21-year-old ousted home favourite Sho Shimabukuro 7-5 3-6 6-2 in the final. Shimabukuro entered the championship match on a nine-match winning streak, having won the previous week’s Seoul Challenger.

^{Henrique Rocha wins the Matsuyama Challenger. Credit: Yoshiharu Yokoyama}

Former World No. 24 Yoshihito Nishioka won his second title in three weeks with his triumph at the Taiwan Santaizi Challenger. The lefty, who two weeks ago won in Suzhou, defeated top seed James Duckworth 7-5, 7-6(5) in the final.

^{Yoshihito Nishioka wins the Taipei Challenger. Credit: Taiwan Santaizi Challenger}

Tomas Barrios Vera survived a dramatic week at the Igma Open in Lima, Peru to win his third Challenger title of the season and seventh overall. Barrios Vera saved five match points in a four-hour, 24-minute minute quarter-final thriller against Argentine Juan Bautista Torres 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 7-6(10) and built upon his momentum to lift the trophy. Barrios Vera ousted Brazil’s Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva 7-6(5) 7-6(3) in the final.

Barrios Vera reigns supreme in Lima 👑

The Chilean wins his 7th career Challenger title!#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/yKe8eBJ1RR

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 9, 2025