Rafael Jódar Advances to the Semifinals of the Tiburon Challenger
TIBURON, California – Virginia men’s tennis sophomore Rafael Jódar is competing this week at the ATP Challenger in Tiburon, California.
Jódar opened the tournament with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win against qualifier Andre Ilagan. On Wednesday (Oct. 1), he logged a 6-2, 6-3 win against the No. 3 seed Jack Pinnington Jones in the Round of 16. Pinnington-Jones is ranked No. 178 in the world. On Friday, he topped No. 198 Nicolas Mejia 6-0, 6-2, to reach the semifinals, his second straight Top 200 win.
He will face 2024 NCAA Singles Champion Michael Zheng of Columbia in the semifinals. Zheng is ranked No. 228 in the ATP rankings.
This was the sixth time Jódar has made an ATP Challenger semifinal and his eighth time in the quarterfinals.
Jódar is 28-10 in ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour matches this year. He is ranked No. 306 in the latest ATP world rankings.