TENERIFE CHALLENGER 2, THE ENTRY LIST REVEALED
FROM GIGANTE TO PASSARO, MANY ITALIANS ON THE ISLAND
THERE IS ALSO DE JONG, SINNER’S OPPONENT IN AUSTRALIA
Tenerife, 30 January 2024 – The names that will be part of the Tenerife Challenger 2 have been made official. Having archived the first appointment in January, MEF Tennis Events is ready to double with the two ATP Challenger 75 tournaments which will take place on the Canary island between 18 February and March 3. The Hungarian Zsombor Piros, number 129 ATP, leads the entry list where five Italian tennis players appear. Among these Matteo Gigante, champion in 2023 of one of the events staged at the Abama Tennis Academy, as well as fresh winner of the Nonthaburi 3 Challenger (Thailand). Also present at the starting line is the former ATP number 40 Ilya Ivashka, as well as the promising Daniel Rincón (athlete of the Rafa Nadal Academy) and the Dutchman Jesper De Jong, recently Jannik Sinner’s opponent at the Australian Open. Tenerife Tourism and the Canary Islands therefore continue to focus on sport, and in particular tennis, to help promote an island with an optimal climate, which makes hospitality one of its strong points.
Gigante and Travaglia dream of an encore – One year after challenging each other in the final act of Tenerife Challenger 3, Matteo Gigante and Stefano Travaglia will return to the island as protagonists. The Roman born in 2002 has already left his mark on the hard courts of the Abama Tennis Academy and, thanks to his ATP ranking of number 155, he will be seeded. Despite the defeat in the final, the memories of the Canaries are probably even sweeter for Stefano Travaglia. The tennis player at the Enjoy Sporting Club of Rome, former ATP number 60, got his career back in motion with the result in Tenerife and since then he has climbed more than 200 positions in the world rankings which currently sees him at number 201. The tricolor troop is completed with Franco Agamemenone, Alessandro Giannessi and Francesco Passaro. The spotlight will be on the latter, who a year ago found himself one step away from the Top 100 before suffering from a series of physical problems that prevented him from experiencing the past season to the fullest of his possibilities. Tenerife could be the right springboard to get back on top.
De Jong, from Sinner to Tenerife – Among the players ready to battle in the Tenerife Challenger 2, the name of Jesper de Jong stands out. The Dutchman born in 2000 should lead the lower part of the draw as the number two seed, trying to give continuity to the excellent period that saw him play three Challenger finals in 2023 (the last one won against Benjamin Hassan in Grodzisk Mazowiecki), as well as reaching the main draw of the 2024 Australian Open starting from the qualifiers. In Melbourne, the current ATP number 139 defeated Pedro Cachin (world no. 74) in the first round before crashing into the wall erected by Jannik Sinner, capable of defeating him 6-2 6-2 6-2 on his way towards the first Slam of his career. The first seed will be Zsombor Piros, already winner of four titles in the cadet circuit. The twenty-four-year-old Hungarian, protagonist in the Davis Cup with his national team, will try a new assault on the Top 100 after failing to achieve his goal at the end of last season. Major circuit mission also for the former world number 40 Ilya Ivashka, who at 29 years old may have all it takes to return to the top. The Belarusian boasts Winston Salem’s ATP 250 title in his palmares, as well as highly prestigious scalps such as those of Alexander Zverev, Stanislas Wawrinka, Hubert Hurkacz and Lorenzo Musetti. There will be no shortage of home players, already three waiting for possible wild cards. Pablo Llamas Ruiz, seeded number four, will try to improve on the quarter-finals reached in the first of the three Challengers organized by MEF Tennis Events in the Canary Islands. Behind him also present Daniel Rincon, athlete of the Rafa Nadal Academy and winner of the 2021 US Open Junior, as well as the current ATP n.221 Alejandro Moro Canas.