Nottingham, England – Fighting his way from the first round of qualifying, Jacob Fearnley (TCU) defeated Charles Broom (Baylor) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to claim the men’s singles title at the ATP Challenger Tour level, Rothesay Open, in Nottingham this past weekend. This marks Fearnley’s first ATP Challenger Tour singles title in just his third attempt, one main draw and one qualifying draw appearance.
Coming off of a record-setting season with the Horned Frogs in which they won their program’s first NCAA Team National Championship, Fearnley returned home to the United Kingdom to kickstart his professional career at the Rothesay Open where he won his first ATP Challenger Tour doubles title in 2023 with fellow collegian, Johannus Monday (Tennessee).
As one of three TCU players in the singles main draw (Jack Pinnington Jones and Cameron Norrie), Fearnley would go on to collect a series of victories including defeating World No. 160 Mattia Bellucci 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals and World No. 96 Shang Juncheng 7-5, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
With the win, Fearnley has risen over 250 spots in the ATP Singles Rankings, putting him into contention to receive a main draw wild card into Wimbledon as a player with an upward rankings trajectory in the ATP Singles Rankings.
This first ATP Challenger Tour title comes right after a five-year run in Fort Worth, Texas with the TCU in which Fearnley was one of the most decorated student-athletes in all of college tennis. With the Horned Frogs, Fearnley was a four-time ITA All-American, four-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree, three-time NCAA Individuals Championships qualifier, and two-time qualifier for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator.
This past season, he was also named to the 2024 NCAA Championships All-Tournament Team, 2024 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team, and 2024 ITA Indoor National Championships All-Tournament Team.
