Valentin Royer is celebrating his first ATP Challenger victory in Kigali but his focus is already on lifting one more trophy in the coming week on the same clay ground. Royer, 23, won the ATP Challenger 75 after dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over Slovakian Andrej Martin in the final held at IPRC-Kigali Ecology Tennis Club on Saturday, March 1. It was his first trophy in 2025 and his second career ATP Challenger trophy. ALSO: Royer dominates Martin to win ATP Challenger 75 trophy in Kigali Saturday’s glory capped off a successful week for the Frenchman who recorded 773 points overall throughout the tournament. It took the Frenchman 1 hour 6 minutes and 3 second to beat Martin in the final in what people who followed the match may describe as an easy win. Royer admitted he was “a bit ahead of” Martin before congratulating for giving him a challenge. “You did really amazing,” the Rwanda Challenger 75 winner told Martin. Royer has less than three days to celebrate before returning to the IPRC-Kigali clay courts and battler for the ATP Challenger 100 where the likes of top seed Jesper De Jong and former Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato await. “It was a wonderful event and we can’t wait to be back next week and compete again,” Royer said. “I thank my coach and everybody at home, it’s been a long journey. We’re going to take time and enjoy this moment because a new tournament is coming in three days.” Royer also reflected on his stay during the past week in Rwanda which is hosting the ATP Challenger tournaments for the second time in a row. “It’s been a pleasure to be in this country, honestly. The interest is coming and, fortunately, I am really happy in this country,” he said. His ATP Challenger 75 victory earned him 75 points on the ATP Tour ranking. Investing in tennis He received the trophy from Rwandan Minister of Sports Nelly Mukazayire who said seeing the champions in tennis being celebrated in Rwanda shows how far the country is going in hosting international tournament, most especially tennis. “Tennis has a big potential. Especially in Rwanda, it’s one of the strategic sports we want to develop. Over these two years, we’ve been able to come up with an infrastructure like this one and we’ve been hosting competitions at a high level. That shows that it is so much supported by the government which has put a lot of investment into this,” Mukazayire said. Also in Africa, she said, there is a lot of talent but they have not over the years got opportunities to host and be part of big international competitions. “And that is the aim we have, in developing their skills to become big athletes but also have good infrastructure to be able to host international tournaments and environment that can attract competitions. Last year we hosted ATP Challenger 50 and now we are hosting ATP Challenger 75 and 100 because of the facilities,” she added. The second week of Rwanda Challenger 2025 began with a qualification round on Sunday, March 2, with players now competing for ATP Challenger 100. The new champion will be crowned on Sunday, March 9 at IPRC-Kigali Ecology Tennis Club.
