The winner of the tournament "Moldova Open 2025" Clement Chide gives autographs to young tennis fans // Photo: facebook.com
Moldova became the 97th country to host a professional tennis tournament. The courts of “Arena Chi?inau” were accredited by ATP, all the necessary issues related to logistics and accommodation of the tournament participants were solved, and the cups of the winners of the singles and doubles tournaments were delivered to the organizers. The tournament director, Secretary General of the Moldovan Tennis Federation Natalia Belibova said that she traveled to Italy and independently chose the design of the trophies, which, in her opinion, reflect the spirit of the tournament.
The first days of “Moldova Open 2025” became a test of professionalism of the organizers, for whom the reception of such a high level tournament became a real challenge. Due to heavy rains, the matches of the first round were postponed. The most famous Moldovan tennis player Radu Albot waited seven hours for the ATP supervisor’s decision on the start of the match with Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis. Initially the match was scheduled for 10:00, but it started only after 17:00 and lasted three hours. Perhaps the long waits and the grueling first meeting had an impact on the fact that Albot failed to get past the second round stage.
Nevertheless, Radu Albot had good impressions of the tournament in his home country. “I experienced inexpressible emotions as I had never played at home in such an important tournament before. I had the experience of playing for the national team in the Davis Cup, but this tournament is an event of a completely different scale. Of course, I wanted to win. In the first round I fought with one of the strongest participants of the tournament, and I am glad that I won. I regret that I didn’t manage to pass the second round. I would like to express my gratitude to the spectators who supported me during the matches. I will be glad if our country will continue to organize professional tournaments in the future,” said the 35-year-old athlete.
The organizers envisaged a possible force majeure with the weather, and in the first days, when the game on the outdoor courts was complicated by heavy rain, moved some of the meetings to indoor venues. The spectators wanted to see their tennis players – Radu Albot and Ilia Snitsar, who participated in the main draw of the tournament (Andrey Gorban left the tournament in the qualification round) – play on the open court. Therefore, they, as well as a number of other participants, had to wait for the weather conditions to improve. According to Natalia Belibova, the technical services of the tournament worked qualitatively under the supervision of the ATP supervisor, who is authorized to make the final decision on postponing matches.
Moldova Open” tournament was held within the ATP Challenger 50 series (winners of the tournament in singles and doubles receive 50 rating points each). Young tennis players and more experienced athletes, whose positions in the ATP ranking for one reason or another have shaken, by successful participation in these tournaments can ensure their entry into the qualifying or even main draw of the ATP Tour tournaments, in which the first numbers of the ranking of tennis professionals participate.
Moldova started its way of organizing professional tournaments from the lowest series – Challenger 50. About 200 tournaments of this series are held annually. The most significant of them allow the winners to receive 175 rating points. There are also tournaments in which 125, 100 and 75 points are at stake. Natalia Belibova said that the Tennis Federation is holding talks with ATP on the organization of the Challenger 100 tournament, which could be held this year.
The organization of much bigger tournaments, which require much more serious financing and experience, is out of the question. So, it is premature to expect the arrival of world-class tennis players, such as Novak Djokovic, Yannick Cinner or Carlos Alcaraz, to Moldova.
The prize fund of the tournament amounted to €54 thousand. The funds were allocated by the Tennis Federation, a number of sponsors, the Ministry of Education and Research. As the president of the Moldovan Tennis Federation Cheslav Ciuhrii stated, “Moldova Open” has quite a considerable budget (the organizers do not name the figures). But the necessary funds were found to invite tennis players to Moldova and to show that we have the capacity and vision to organize high-level tennis competitions.
The winners of the tournament in singles (Frenchman Clement Chide) and doubles (Polish representatives Szymon Kelan and Filip Pieczonka) received €7.530 prize money each. But most importantly, they earned rating points, which will allow them to get closer to qualifying for the ATP Tour events (see the table for the rest of the tournament participants). For 23-year-old Clement Chide, the title at the tournament in Chisinau became the second in his career. He won his first Challenger tournament in 2024 in Glasgow. Despite the fact that the main favorite in singles was considered to be the representative of Russia Ilya Semakin, playing under a neutral status, the French tennis player won the final match quite confidently.
During the awarding ceremony, Clement Chidet noted the high level of organization of the tournament and the fact that he became the winner of the first drawing of the “Moldova Open”. “Last year was quite difficult for me, but the victory in Chisinau gave me confidence in my abilities. I want to share my success with all those who were involved in it. I am grateful to the organizers of the tournament, the week went very well,” said the winner.
At the end of the tournament, Czeslaw Czuchryi expressed his satisfaction with the level of the tournament. “Despite many factors previously unknown to us, we managed to bring a professional tennis tournament to us and hold it qualitatively. The atmosphere on the courts was incredible. It turned out even better than we expected,” summarized the President of the Tennis Federation.
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Prize and rating points for the participants of “Moldova Open 2025” |
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|
Prize money |
ATP ranking points |
|
| Winner |
€7.530 |
50 |
| Finalist (2nd place) |
€4.420 |
25 |
| Semi-finalists |
€2.575 |
14 |
| Participants in 1/4 finals (3rd round) |
€1.545 |
8 |
| Participants of 1/8 finals (2nd round) |
€900 |
4 |
| Participants in 1/16 finals (1st round) |
€560 |
0 |
| Participants in the qualification round |
€0 – €300 |
From 0 to 3 |
