Top Seeds Basavareddy and Mochizuki Drop Opening Matches, Spizzirri, Blockx and Holmgren Continue Good Form at ATP Challenger 100 Bloomfield Hills; Kalamazoo 18s and 16s Wild Cards

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Bloomfield Hills MI--

My short visit to the ATP Challenger 100 in Bloomfield Hills concluded this evening with an expected result, but many of the 12 first round matches that preceded it did not go as expected, with No. 2 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan and 2024 finalist and top seed Nishesh Basavareddy failing to advance to the second round.

No. 6 seed August Holmgren of Denmark, who won the Granby Challenger last week, a week after a third round appearance at Wimbledon after qualifying there, defeated qualifier Garrett Johns(Duke) 6-1, 6-4 on Stadium Court, running his record since the end of June to 11-1, with the sole loss coming to ATP No. 13 Alex de Minaur of Australia.

Holmgren told Cracked Racquets' Alex Gruskin that all the attention and the more than $200,000 he received for his Wimbledon run was a jolt, but did not fundamentally change how he viewed himself as a player.

"I did have to sit down when I saw it in my bank account a couple days ago," said the former University of San Diego All-American. "It's a big honor to get this much attention and have this many people celebrate my accomplishment. It's a little bit funny to say my accomplishment, and I lose in the third round in a tournament, but it shows that it's a surprise, why it gets so much attention."

"I have some very good people around me, who help me stay on track, to focus on the right things, to continue with my player identity, not trying all of sudden to do something extraordinary just because I had some good results here and there," Holmgren said. "Nothing changes, I'm still the same player that I was the week before Wimbledon, when I lost in the first round of qualies (at the Nottingham Challenger). The difference is so small in a lot of the matches. What does help with this run is the confidence; it's so important to play the matches and the big moments with a lot of confidence, trust in my own abilities and what I'm trying to do, because if I have no hesitation, there's a bigger chance it's going to work out."

Holmgren will face Mark Lajal of Estonia, who breezed past Omar Jasika of Australia 6-0, 6-3.

The day started with No. 2 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan jumping out to a 3-0, two-break lead over compatriot Rio Noguchi, but Noguchi won six of the next seven games, before Mochizuki retired due to illness.

Top seed Nishesh Basavareddy had no time to work his way into the tournament, with Yu Hsiou Hsu of Taiwan sustaining his level throughout his 6-3, 6-4 win over Basavareddy. The 20-year-old from Indiana wasn't sharp, but Hsu gave him very little to work with. The 26-year-old, a former Top 5 ITF junior, didn't face a break point and hit 30 winners and just 18 unforced errors, keeping Basavareddy defending not dictating.

Two recent Australian Open boys champions suffered different fates Tuesday afternoon, with 2024 champion Rei Sakomoto of Japan falling to No. 5 seed Eliot Spizzirri 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 2023 champion Alexander Blockx of Belgium rolling past qualifier Tsung-Hao Huang of Taiwan 6-2, 6-1.

Spizzirri, who has reached the semifinals of the last two Challengers, in Newport on grass and Granby on hard courts, struggled with his serve and his forehand in the opening set, with five double faults and 15 unforced errors. But he gradually found his game, and was able to counteract the dangerous game of Sakamoto, who can blast winners close to the lines and pull off big serves on key points.

"Especially in that third set, I was saying ok, he's going to hit some flashy shots, because he's real talented and that's the kind of player he is," Spizzirri said of Sakamoto, who won the Cary Challenger earlier this month. "But if I can stick to my game over the long haul, hopefully that will give me a chance, and if he keeps on hitting winners left and right and I'm playing my game, moving well, playing point to point, then that's too good and I've got to shake hands and hold my head high. But I did that, he kind of made some errors there at the end, and I was lucky to come through."

Spizzirri now has over a year of professional tennis behind him, and can better assess how his four plus years at Texas has contributed to his rise into the ATP Top 150. 

"It teaches you a lot of lessons you're going to need on tour," said the 24-year-old from Connecticut. "There's a lot of losing, a lot of tough weeks on tour and if you're not resilient, have that ability to bounce back quick, have short term memory, then the tour can eat you alive."

As evidenced by his comeback today, Spizzirri earned a reputation as a tough competitor in college and he counts that as one of his assets as he makes his way on the pro tour.

"When you're playing for something bigger than yourself, you're playing for your teammates, for your coaches, for your school, for your the alumni, you're playing for so much, there's no giving up out there," Spizzirri said. "I feel I've tried to carry that competitiveness that I unlocked in college and Bruce(Berque) and Brandon(Wagner) and (Ryan) Lipman and all the other Texas coaches brought out in me, and I try to bring that to the pro game. It looks a little different, it's not as rah-rah maybe at times, but inside, I'm definitely using those skills that college tennis teaches you if you want to be one of the best."

Spizzirri will face wild card Michael Zheng(Columbia) in the second round Wednesday.

No. 3 seed Blockx, who like Sakamoto, has won two Challenger titles, is coming off a final in Winnipeg and a semifinal in Granby, losing to Canadian Liam Draxl in both tournaments. Blockx had some success on grass this summer, reaching the final round of Wimbledon qualifying before falling to San Diego's Oliver Tarvet, but American hard courts are where he is most comfortable.

"I feel really well on the American hard courts, I've always played well on these hard courts," said the 20-year-old Blockx, who qualified for the Miami Open Masters 1000 this year. "I played pretty well on grass, on clay I didn't have my best season, but I tried to improve tactically, stay closer to the baseline, play more attacking tennis.  On grass that was going way better and I feel like here on the hard courts I can do that even more, when I feel comfortable. I have a lot of confidence and the goal is to play as aggressive as I can, because that's the only way to beat the top guys, in my case at least."

Blockx will face former Stanford All-American Arthur Fery of Great Britain, after the qualifier defeated Alex Bolt of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Tuesday's results and Wednesday's order of play:

Men's Singles - Round of 32

Alexis Galarneau (CAN) d Patrick Kypson (USA) 64 67(2) 63
[5] Eliot Spizzirri (USA) d [NG] Rei Sakamoto (JPN) 36 63 64
Yu Hsiou Hsu (TPE) d [1] Nishesh Basavareddy (USA) 63 64
[6] August Holmgren (DEN) d [Q] Garrett Johns (USA) 61 64
Rio Noguchi (JPN) d [2] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) 64 Retired
[7] Li Tu (AUS) d [WC] Nicolas Ian Kotzen (USA) 46 63 64
[Q] Arthur Fery (GBR) d Alex Bolt (AUS) 64 46 62
[3] Alexander Blockx (BEL) d [Q] Tsung-Hao Huang (TPE) 62 61
Yuta Shimizu (JPN) d [Alt] Nicolas Mejia (COL) 64 62
Mark Lajal (EST) d Omar Jasika (AUS) 60 63
[Q] Aidan Mayo (USA) d Alibek Kachmazov 76(5) 62
[Q] Tung-Lin Wu (TPE) d [Q] Patrick Maloney (USA) 76(11) 62

ORDER OF PLAY - WEDNESDAY, 23 JULY 2025

Center Court - start 11:00
[5] Eliot Spizzirri (USA) vs [WC] Michael Zheng (USA)
[WC] Andres Martin (USA) vs Yuta Shimizu (JPN)
Alexis Galarneau (CAN) vs Rio Noguchi (JPN)

Not Before 15:30
[NG] Yi Zhou (CHN) vs [4] Christopher Eubanks (USA)

Court 2 - start 11:00
[WC] Stefan Dostanic (USA) / Benjamin Kittay (USA) vs Nicolas Mejia (COL) / Cristian Rodriguez (COL)
Kody Pearson (AUS) / Li Tu (AUS) vs [4] Patrick Harper (AUS) / Joshua Sheehy (USA)

Not Before 14:00
[WC] Theodore Winegar (USA) / Michael Zheng (USA) vs Mac Kiger (USA) / Patrick Maloney (USA)

Not Before 15:00
[1] Blake Bayldon (AUS) / Trey Hilderbrand (USA) vs Masamichi Imamura (JPN) / Yuta Shimizu (JPN)

Court 3 - start 11:00
Jason Jung (TPE) / Reese Stalder (USA) vs Ryuki Matsuda (JPN) / Kelsey Stevenson (CAN)
Alternate vs [2] Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND) / Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)

Not Before 14:00
[3] Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) / Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Jody Maginley (ANT) / Eliot Spizzirri (USA)

The wild cards for the USTA Nationals in Kalamazoo have been confirmed, with Rochester M15 quarterfinalist Michael Antonius receiving a wild card for the 16s.

Boys 16s:

Macksimus Malhotra

Michael Antonius

Sean Grosman

Sulaiman Syed

Kamil Stolarczyk

Sebastian Bielen

B18s:

Carel Ngounoue

Ilija Palavestra

Jacob Olar

Simon Caldwell

Sklar Phillips

Roy Horovitz