Mate Valkusz enjoyed a breakthrough moment this week at the Skopje Challenger, where he advanced through qualifying en route to claiming his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title.
The Hungarian won seven matches in as many days and defeated Argentine Francisco Comesana 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s final at the Macedonian Open. Valkusz ousted three of the top five seeds at the clay-court event, including a quarter-final victory against top seed Aziz Dougaz.
The 24-year-old Valkusz adds to the promising young talent hailing from Hungary. Zsombor Piros, 23, has captured two Challenger titles this year while Fabian Marozsan won the Antalya Challenger in March and stunned Carlos Alcaraz en route to a fourth-round appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.
At a career-high No. 224 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, Valkusz was also a finalist at last month’s Ostrava Challenger.
Comesana was competing in his third Challenger final and first of this year. The 22-year-old collected two Challenger titles in 2022, in Corrientes and Buenos Aires.
A magical week for 🇭🇺 Mate Valkusz 💫
The qualifier wins the first Challenger title of his career after defeating Comesana 6-3, 6-4 in Skopje!#ATPChallenger | @HUNgarianTENNIS pic.twitter.com/sYB9fzIc4h
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 27, 2023