Rafael Jódar, a rising sophomore member of the UVA Tennis program from Madrid, Spain, won the singles title at the ATP Hersonissos Challenger, a tournament held on the island of Crete.
This is the first career ATP Challenger title for Jódar, the 2025 ITA National Freshman of the Year and ACC Freshman of the Year, who was ranked as high as No. 6 in the ITA collegiate singles rankings last season.
Jódar, originally an alternate for the main draw of 32, defeated No. 519 Luca Potenza in the opening round to advance to face the tournament’s top seed, No. 235 George Loffhagen, in the second round.
Jódar won in three sets to make his fourth Challenger quarterfinal of the summer, where he defeated No. 512 Harry Wendelken, advancing to his first career Challenger final with a win against No. 460 Petr Brunclik.
Jódar defeated No. 338 Dan Added, 6-4, 6-2, in the final.
With the victory, Jódar moves up to No. 406 in the live ATP rankings, and improves to 17-7 in professional matches this year.
Jódar came to UVA as a highly-decorated junior tennis player, most notably winning the 2024 Junior U.S. Open.
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Chris Graham
