Henry Searle reaches first ATP Challenger Tour final as Norway’s Viktor Durasovic crowned champion in Nottingham
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Former Junior Wimbledon winner Henry Searle enjoyed an inspiring week, but came up just short as Norway’s Viktor Durasovic won his first ATP Challenger singles title this weekend at the Lexus Nottingham Challenger.
Meanwhile, Jonas Forejtek and Michael Vrbensky triumphed in an all-Czech men's doubles final as international tennis got underway in Britain in 2025.
Durasovic, appearing in his second ATP Challenger final, defeated British wild card Searle 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1.
Searle, appearing in his first ATP Challenger singles final, enjoyed an impressive run, which included a first round win over Belgian seventh seed Michael Geerts. However, the Brit finished runner-up to the Norwegian, who made his Davis Cup debut aged just 16 and who moves to a career-high world No.289 following his title.
Speaking following the final, Durasovic said, “I was happy to pull through. Henry has had a good week… and was really serving well, so it was nice to pull through in the end.”
International tournaments such as the Lexus Nottingham Challenger are part of our Performance Competitions Calendar (PCC), which provides significantly enhanced opportunities for British players at each age and stage of the performance player pathway on home soil.
As well as Searle’s run to the final which sees him rise to world No.401, fellow Brit Anton Matusevich reached his first Challenger singles semi-final in Nottingham with a number of exceptional performances, including 6-3, 6-4 straight sets win over Croatian fifth seed Dino Prizmic.
In the men’s doubles final, the battle of the Czech pairs saw Forejtek and Verbensky defeat third seeds Jiri Barnat and Filip Duda in a tightly fought contest that came down to two tiebreaks, with Forejtek and Vrbensky taking it 7-6(5), 7-6(5).
LTA Tournament Director Luke Gallen said: “It was great to kick off the year in Nottingham at the Lexus Nottingham Challenger, with the courts looking pristine having just been resurfaced ahead of the event. It was a fantastic week of singles and doubles with a lot of high-quality matches on show. A huge thank you the Nottingham Tennis Centre team, who were incredible hosts for the event and went above and beyond to ensure the tournament was a great success.
“It was fantastic to see Henry in his first Challenger final and to have a strong crowd on finals day supporting all the singles and doubles players.
“A big thank you to all the amazing ball crew, officials, referee, physios, doctor, stringers and drivers who all played their part; and a special mention to our ATP Supervisor, and to Lexus Nottingham for supporting the event.”
