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Fonseca won Canberra Challenger before qualifying for AO
January 10, 2025

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By ATP Staff
ATPTour.com highlights five players from the ATP Challenger Tour to watch during the Australian Open.

Record-breaker Fearnley
The 23-year-old Jacob Fearnley has enjoyed one of the fastest ascents to the Top 100 in recent memory. Last January, the Briton was No. 646 in the PIF ATP Rankings and had competed in just one Challenger-level event (in 2022). Fearnley helped Texas Christian University claim the 2024 NCAA team title in May before making a splash at the pro level.

Fearnley lifted the trophy at his first four of five Challenger events last year, helping him eventually hit a career-high No. 86 this month. Fearnley became just the third player to finish a Challenger season with a win percentage of 90 per cent or greater (min. 25 matches played). He also made the biggest jump to the year-end Top 100 since Jannik Sinner in 2019.

The four-time ITA All-American, who took a set off Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, faces home favourite Nick Kyrgios in the first round. [Read our Fearnley feature from October, when the Briton discussed his dominant Challenger season and playing Djokovic].


#NextGenATP champion Fonseca
Joao Fonseca will bring his electric run of form into his first major main-draw appearance. The 18-year-old won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF without dropping a set. The teenager became the second-youngest titlist in the event’s history, only behind Sinner, the Australian Open top seed and World No. 1.

Fonseca kickstarted his 2025 season by winning his second Challenger title in Canberra. Last August, he became the youngest Brazilian Challenger champion when he triumphed in Lexington, Kentucky. Fonseca raced through Melbourne qualifying, dropping just 12 games across three matches. Jeddah finalist Learner Tien also advanced through qualifying.

Fonseca, on the verge of cracking the Top 100, begins his campaign with a showdown against ninth seed Andrey Rublev. [Read 'Fonseca's talent so obvious at 2, even the yoga instructor noticed', which features insight from the teenager's parents].

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Fast-rising Landaluce
Joining the likes of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in the record books is not an easy feat, but that is just what Martin Landaluce did in 2024, when he became the fifth Spaniard since 2000 to win a Challenger title at age 18 or younger. Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro, former Top 10 players in the PIF ATP Rankings, also accomplished the feat.

Landaluce, who won his maiden Challenger title in Olbia, Italy in October, finished ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, one spot shy from qualifying for the eight-player Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. Having celebrated his 19th birthday on 8 January — the same day he advanced to the final round of qualifying — Landaluce will make his major main-draw debut against Aussie wild card James McCabe. [Read 'Advice from Alcaraz & more, Landaluce living Spanish teenage dream'].

It All Adds Up

Basavareddy plays childhood idol
Fresh off a semi-final run at the ATP 250 in Auckland, Nishesh Basavareddy will continue his dream start to the season by facing his childhood idol, record 10-time champion Novak Djokovic.

"I admire a lot of things in his game," Basavareddy told ATPTour.com in October when discussing Djokovic. "I think first, just his mental strength and all the toughness he has in every moment in his career. Also how he has left no stone unturned throughout his career. He’s worked on his diet, he’s worked on his physical strength, mental toughness. He has no holes."

The 19-year-old American turned pro in December following a dominant 2024 season on the ATP Challenger Tour. Basavareddy, who spent two years at Stanford University, won two Challenger titles and reached four additional finals at that level last season. He tallied a 41-13 match record, becoming just the third American in Challenger history (since 1978) to earn more than 40 wins in a single season. Tristan Boyer, another former Stanford player who is making his major main-draw debut in Melbourne, also accomplished the feat in 2024.

Basavareddy won the Puerto Vallarta Challenger in November to secure a spot in Jeddah. [Read our Basavareddy feature, which highlights his special relationship with former doubles No. 1 Rajeev Ram].

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Home hope Walton
One of 14 Australians in the main draw, World No. 91 Walton will lean on home support when he faces Frenchman Quentin Halys in the first round. The 25-year-old Walton was one of two Australians to claim a pair of Challenger titles last season (Thanasi Kokkinakis). He made four additional finals at that level, tallying a 41-20 Challenger-match record in 2024, which was just his second full season as a professional.

The former University of Tennessee standout cracked the Top 100 for the first time after winning the Taipei Challenger last May. Walton earned his first major main-draw win at Wimbledon. Now his sights are set on adding to that count Down Under. [Read about Walton's golfing hobby and the time he nailed a hole-in-one].

Imagine a reigning Grand Slam champion beaten at the height of her powers in awe of her vanquisher, a barely tested 18-year-old Aryna Sabalenka, on one of the highest-pressure stages in the sport.

So it was in the aftermath of a shock defeat to the daring teenager in the Fed Cup final in 2017 that US Open champion Sloane Stephens showered Sabalenka in praise.

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“I want to play like that. That was insane,” Stephens said at the time.

Seven years later, she wouldn’t be alone among her playing peers if she uttered those words again, such has been her now 26-year-old rival’s climb.

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On their day, the two are among the purest ball-strikers out there. On Sunday, their all-out aggression and athleticism will be on display under the lights at Rod Laver Arena when Sabalenka seeks to extend her unbeaten record to 5-0 against the American in the opening round of Australian Open 2025.



Now the shoe is on the other foot. Sabalenka is the reigning Grand Slam champion – she has three of those in the bag at last count, including last year’s Australian and US Opens – and the world No.1, while 31-year-old Stephens now finds herself at world No.84 following a season in which she picked up her eighth career trophy in Rouen, France.

If their past showdowns are any gauge on what’s to come, a win won’t come easily.

Three of their four meetings have gone the distance while their most recent, in the fourth round at Roland Garros two years ago, was also closely contested.

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Sabalenka said her opponent – an Australian Open semifinalist in 2013 – had “nothing to lose”.

Stephens, though, was due to face an even more polished version of the player she last squared off against 20 months ago.

“I think, like, mindset changed a lot,” Sabalenka said. “Approach to the Slams is different. Priorities are different. I would say that mentally I changed a lot.

“I have that understanding that ‘okay, I got it, I know how to do that’. I know how to separate on-court and off-court life. Before, an extra day off would be too much for me because I would overthink about the upcoming match.”

Sabalenka’s beaten opponent from last year’s Australian Open final, fifth seed Zheng Qinwen, accepted she was no longer able to fly under the radar after a breakout season, which included an Olympic gold medal in Paris.



The Chinese 22-year-old ended the year with her fifth career title in Tokyo before a run to the WTA Finals title match in November. She hired Kei Nishikori’s former coach Dante Bottini in November for her Melbourne Park return while her full-time coach Pere Riba recovered from hip surgery.

Zheng opens Day 1 at RLA in a first meeting against 110th-ranked qualifier Anca Todoni.

The Romanian 20-year-old ended last season with her second WTA 125 title in Bolivia. She has claimed six of her seven matches in Australia this season, having qualified in Brisbane and for her Australian Open debut.

Zheng warned she now had the runs on the board to back up her firm self-belief against any rival.

“I believe if you want to beat your opponent, the first things I need to have is the confidence. If you don't believe, you are not going to make it,” she said.

“I allow myself to be confident, but still with control, not too much. I know sometimes when I'm overconfident, I can't listen to any advice. I'm trying to control in the best level. Not too much. Not too low.”

In the second night match at RLA, men’s second seed Alexander Zverev squares off against experienced Frenchman Lucas Pouille, determined to put memories of last year’s semifinal exit from two-sets-to-love up against Daniil Medvdevev behind him.

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The German beat the 30-year-old wildcard at the Hopman Cup six years ago, the same year Pouille reached the last four at Melbourne Park before a straight-sets defeat to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Zverev reached his second major final last season at Roland Garros, and ended the season at his highest mark of world No.2.

Men’s sixth seed Casper Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam finalist who reached the fourth round at a major for the first time at Australian Open 2021, went unbeaten in two singles outings for Norway in the United Cup in Perth leading in.

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The 26-year-old looks to carry that form to RLA on Sunday when he meets world No.61 Jaume Munar, whom he owns a 2-1 record against.

The Spaniard also struck form leading in, when he beat Lorenzo Musetti to reach the Hong Kong semifinals.

Elsewhere, Brisbane champion Jiri Lehecka opens his campaign against Australian wildcard Li Tu, while Elena Rybakina’s conqueror from last year, Anna Blinkova, squares off against Aussie Daria Saville. Rising 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva meets Czech Marie Bouzkova.