ATP Challenger Tour showcases Cancun and Sumter on its live-streaming slate

The ATP Challenger Tour welcomes two brand-new tournaments this week, both staged on hard courts and offering $200,000 in total prize money—and 125 valuable ATP Ranking points for the champion. The Europcar Cancun Country Open in Mexico, and the Serve First Open in Sumter, South Carolina, promise high-level fields and unique settings.

Mexico steps up, and the players are showing up

For Cancun, the journey from idea to reality was fast-paced.

“Just a few months ago, after requesting a date to the ATP,” explained tournament director Daniel Langre, “Week 33 opened up, and we were happy to take it and accept the challenge of hosting a 125 event on the second week of the Cincinnati Open 1000.”

The decision to launch at the second-highest Challenger level was backed by experience.

“Our tournament promoter, Francisco Tarazona, has plenty of experience being involved in ATP 250s and 500s in the past, so I believe that gave the ATP the confidence they needed to grant him with this Challenger level,” Langre said. “I have also been involved in the organizing committees of ATP 75s, WTA 250s and a WTA 500 event, so we believed we had a strong team with the necessary tools to organize this event.”

Cancun will mark the highest-level men’s professional tennis tournament ever held in the entire Yucatán Peninsula. The organizers faced the challenge of meeting all ATP requirements while ensuring “high-level facilities, hotel accommodations and food options for the class of players that we will receive, who are used to top-class treatments.”

Fans can expect a star-studded entry list. The field is led by world No. 76 Arthur Cazaux, with Top 100 players Jesper de Jong, Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Tristan Schoolkate. Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka was granted a wild card into the main draw, and other big names include Alejandro Tabilo, Liam Draxl and Mexico’s top-ranked player, Rodrigo Pacheco Méndez.

The venue itself is a draw: the Cancun Country Club is set in the Caribbean jungle and features a 1,150-seat main stadium, a Grandstand Court, Court 1 for competition, plus two extra practice courts.

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Monday, August 11 through Sunday, August 17

Sumter brings more world-class tennis to South Carolina

The WTA has long has a tennis presence in Charleston, South Carolina’s most populous city. In Sumter, about 100 miles northwest, the Serve First Open arrives with big ambitions.

Tournament director Brian Hodge says the event was conceived “in the early part of the summer season” and was added to the calendar directly by the ATP. The short preparation time brought logistical hurdles.

“Probably the biggest challenge was the small window to create a campus with all the player and officials’ amenities, set up for televised matches and an outstanding fan environment for watching high-level tennis,” Hodge explained. “We are very happy to say we have done very well to create a great atmosphere for the players, tournament staff, and fans.”

Spectators can look forward to “an exciting week of tennis with some high-level tennis up close from the rising stars on the Challenger Tour.” The field is stacked: Zizou Bergs, Kei Nishikori—making his comeback with a protected ranking—Mattia Bellucci, Roman Safiullin and Filip Misolic are among the headliners.

The matches will be staged at the Palmetto Tennis Center, a 32-court facility with 24 hard courts and eight European red clay courts. For the Serve First Open, there will be about 500 seats on each of the two oversized feature courts, and 250 seats for the remaining match court.

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Monday, August 11 through Sunday, August 17

More Challenger Tour action this week on two continents

Four more tournaments taking place this week on the ATP Challenger Tour. The Internazionali di Tennis Città di Todi | CERgo Tennis Cup in Italy is celebrating its 17^th edition. The field in Umbria is led by Norwegian teenager Nicolai Budkov Kjaer after defending champion Carlos Taberner withdrew from the tournament due to fatigue.

Briton George Loffhagen is the top seed of the Hersonissos Challenger 3 in Crete, and Nerman Fatic of Bosnia Herzegovina is the highest-ranked player at the Genesis Traiding Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In South America, Argentine Juan-Pablo Ficovich is the top favorite for a triumph at the KIA Open in Barranquila, Colombia.