Kozlov wins Charlottesville, rises to No. 205 and meets Zheng

Stefan Kozlov won the Charlottesville Challenger by beating Aidan Mayo 7-5 2-6 7-6(3) in the final, and this week's ATP rankings rewarded him: the American climbed from No. 271 to No. 205, a jump of 66 places. It is his best position among those recorded by the site, and the rise did not stop there.

In the live rankings Kozlov is already No. 200 with 288 points, level with Luka Pavlovic, who sits just ahead of him on the same total. Compared with 9 September 2026 he has gained 92 places. The credit goes to an autumn played entirely in the United States, across Challenger 75, 100 and 125 events, with 8 wins in his last 10 matches.

The Charlottesville event, an indoor Challenger 75 that began on 2 November, had 29 players from 12 nations in the draw, 14 of them American. Kozlov opened with a clean 6-4 6-0 win over Andres Martin, then gave Murphy Cassone just four games in the second round (6-2 6-2) and beat Braden Shick 6-4 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

The semi-final was his first real test. Against Clement Chidekh, the fifth seed, Kozlov took the first set 6-2, dropped the second 1-6 and closed out the third 6-4. On the other side of the draw Mayo, who came through qualifying, reached the final when Andres Andrade retired with Mayo leading 6-1 3-1.

The final was Kozlov's longest match of the week. He took the first set 7-5, but Mayo hit back with a 6-2 that reopened everything. In the third neither man dropped serve until the tie-break, which Kozlov controlled 7-3. Mayo still had a week to remember: from qualifying to the final, with 45 points in his pocket.

Sunday's 8 November final was also the first meeting between the two in the events tracked by the site: the head-to-head now reads 1-0 to Kozlov, with two sets to one and a tie-break won. The two have similar stories, too: both American, both on the rise in the closing weeks of the season.

Mayo also got his reward in the rankings. The 23-year-old climbed from No. 285 to No. 235, a gain of 50 places, and in the live rankings he is No. 237 with 245 points. Before Charlottesville he had reached the semi-finals in Sioux Falls, a Challenger 100, beating Mees Rottgering and Maks Kasnikowski along the way.

For Kozlov, Charlottesville is no ordinary stop. According to the ATP Tour website, he won the title there in 2021, beating Aleksandar Vukic 6-2 6-3 in the final: it was the second of three Challenger titles that season, alongside Columbus and Champaign, which he closed on a 20-2 run.

That run, the ATP recalls, earned him a main-draw wild card for the 2022 Australian Open and a return to the Top 200 after three years. At the time his career-high was No. 115, reached in 2017: still a distant benchmark, but he is heading in the right direction.

Kozlov's record on the main tour explains why the Challenger circuit is his home. In the 2021 to 2025 seasons, across Grand Slams, Masters 1000, ATP 500 and 250 events, the site records one win in seven matches, all on hard courts. Among them is the first round of the 2022 US Open, lost to Daniil Medvedev 6-2 6-4 6-0.

2026, by contrast, has been a season of slow rebuilding. Before his win in Virginia, in the events tracked by the site, Kozlov had gone out in the first round in Tiburon and San Diego and in the second round in Columbus and Sioux Falls. The Charlottesville title, worth 75 points, is worth more on its own than all of those results combined.

Charlottesville's recent roll of honour features James Kent Trotter, who beat Nishesh Basavareddy in 2024, and Rafael Jodar, who beat Martin Damm 6-3 7-6(2) in 2025. This year the event produced 28 matches, 6 tie-breaks, 10 deciding sets and 2 retirements. Kozlov, at 28, has put his name on the trophy for a second time.

He did not stop the following week. In Knoxville, another indoor Challenger 75 in Tennessee, he beat Alexis Galarneau 6-3 7-6(4) and then Shick again, this time 6-3 6-3. He is now 2-0 against Shick, as he is against Cassone: they are the opponents he has faced most often among the matches recorded by the site.

In the quarter-finals he meets Michael Zheng, the world No. 100, aged 22 and, like him, American. The two have no previous meetings in the events recorded by the site. Zheng reached his career-high of No. 88 on 14 September 2026 and made the third round of the US Open this year.

The site's order of play puts the match at the start of Saturday 14 November, as the last quarter-final in the draw: at the time of writing the result is not yet available. In the semi-finals the winner will face Clement Chidekh, who beat Liam Draxl 6-4 0-6 6-2. For Kozlov it would be an immediate rematch of the Charlottesville semi-final.

The other semi-final pits Abedallah Shelbayh, who beat Alastair Gray 6-4 6-4, against Daniel Milavsky, a 6-3 1-6 7-5 winner over Max Hans Rehberg. Mayo, on the other hand, went out straight away: Michael Mmoh beat him 6-2 6-4 in the first round.

The maths for Kozlov is simple. In Knoxville a quarter-final is worth 15 points, a semi-final 27, the title 75. Beating Zheng would take him to 300 points in the live rankings; the title would take him to 348. Last year he lost here in the second round to Jay Clarke, when the event was still a Challenger 50.

In short, the balance is all in his favour: Kozlov is defending just 5 points in Knoxville and has plenty to gain. In the live rankings he is already on the edge of the Top 200; staying there, or climbing higher, depends on the match with Zheng and on what comes next.