Rafael Jódar Wins First Career ATP Challenger Title

HERSONISSOS, Greece– Virginia men’s tennis rising sophomore Rafael Jódar (Madrid, Spain) won the singles title on Saturday (Aug. 16) at the ATP Hersonissos Challenger at the Lyttos Tennis Academy on the island of Crete.

Jódar was originally an alternate for the main draw, but made the most of his opportunity when granted a space in the singles field of 32. He defeated No. 519 Luca Potenza of Italy in the opening round to advance to face the tournament’s top seed, No. 235 George Loffhagen, in the second round. He won in three sets to make his fourth Challenger quarterfinal of the summer where he defeated No. 512 Harry Wendelken. Jódar advanced to his first career final with a win against No. 460 Petr Brunclik.

Jódar defeated No. 338 Dan Added of France, 6-4, 6-2, in the final.

This is the first career ATP Challenger title for Jódar.

With the victory, Jódar moves up to No. 406 in the live ATP rankings. He improves to 17-7 in professional matches this year.

Jódar, the 2025 ITA National Freshman of the Year, was ranked as high as No. 6 in the ITA singles rankings, tallying a dozen victories over ranked players. Jódar was edged in his collegiate debut match on January 16, but did not lose another regular-season singles match. He was also named the ACC Freshman of the Year and earned ITA All-America honors in singles.

Jódar came to UVA as a highly-decorated junior tennis player, most notably winning the 2024 Junior US Open.

The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP Tour and ahead of the ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments. The ATP Challenger Tour is administered by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Hersonissos is a 50-level ATP Challenger tournament.