Orleans: Altmaier the only seed left in the semifinals

It is semifinal day in Orleans, and the draw of the French Challenger 125 is barely recognisable from Monday. Of the eight seeds, only one is still standing: Daniel Altmaier, the No. 2 seed, who takes on American Nishesh Basavareddy on Saturday afternoon. In the other semifinal, Spain's Pedro Martinez Portero meets Finland's Otto Virtanen. The final is scheduled for Sunday 15 November.

Friday's quarterfinals followed the script of the whole week. Altmaier beat Hungary's Zsombor Piros, the No. 7 seed, 7-5 6-4. Basavareddy got past Germany's Tom Gentzsch 6-4 6-3. Martinez Portero closed out a 6-3 7-6(2) win over French qualifier Calvin Hemery, while Virtanen stopped home wildcard Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg with a clear 6-2 6-4.

Why does it matter? At a Challenger 125 the title is worth 125 ATP points, the final 75 and the semifinal 45. For three of the four semifinalists, all between No. 117 and No. 124 in the live rankings, those are big points. According to the site's projections, Martinez Portero would rise to 537 points by reaching the final and 587 with the title; Basavareddy to 521 and 571; Virtanen to 520 and 570.

For Altmaier, No. 65 in the live rankings with 857 points, the stakes are different: the final would take him to 887, the title to 937. The German reached his career-high ranking, No. 57, on 24 August 2026. A good weekend in France would bring him closer to that mark, but only Sunday evening's points will say by how much.

The list of fallen seeds tells the story of the week. The No. 1 seed, Argentina's Sebastian Baez, who entered with a wildcard, went out in the round of 16 to Hemery, 6-4 7-5. Italy's Mattia Bellucci, the No. 3 seed, lost to Gueymard Wayenburg 7-6(2) 3-6 6-2. France's Kyrian Jacquet, the No. 4 seed, was overturned by Basavareddy.

It was no better for the rest. Croatia's Dino Prizmic, the No. 5 seed, fell in the first round to Virtanen after a deciding tie-break lost 7-2. Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, the No. 6 seed, lost to Gentzsch 6-4 6-3 in the round of 16, and his compatriot Hugo Gaston, the No. 8 seed, was beaten in his opener by Matteo Martineau 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2.

Altmaier did not have an easy road to the semifinals. In the first round he beat qualifier Adrien Gobat 6-2 3-6 6-3; in the round of 16 he dropped the first set against qualifier Buvaysar Gadamauri before winning 3-6 7-5 6-1. Friday's match against Piros was the tidiest of his week: two sets, no tie-breaks.

The German comes to Orleans after a solid autumn on the main tour. In Shanghai he came from behind to beat Holger Rune 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4 before losing to Ben Shelton. In Lyon he reached the quarterfinals, beating Titouan Droguet and Borna Gojo, before falling to Taylor Fritz 7-6(5) 6-2. In Basel he beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo and lost to Jiri Lehecka 7-5 6-4 in the round of 16.

Basavareddy is the freshest story of the tournament. He is 21, born on 2 May 2005, and in the 9 November rankings he hit a career high of No. 126. In the live rankings he is No. 122, 37 places higher than on 9 September. This season he has already won a Challenger title, in San Diego, beating Igor Ribeiro Marcondes 7-5 6-4 in the final.

In Orleans the American beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 6-3, then came back against Jacquet 3-6 6-2 7-5 and finally got past Gentzsch. In the previous weeks he had lost in the first round in Brussels to Raphael Collignon after winning the first set, in the first round in Brest to Gabriel Diallo and in the Bratislava quarterfinals to Jerome Kym. Over his last ten matches he is 7-3.

Altmaier and Basavareddy have never met. The match pits two very different stages of a career against each other: the German is 28 and played 128 main-tour matches between 2021 and 2025, while the American played 20 at that level in 2025, winning 7. The experience is all on one side of the net, the rising ranking on the other.

Martinez Portero, 29, is the player in the draw with the most ATP finals behind him. Between 2021 and 2025 he played three and won one, in 2022. He is a clay-courter by nature: in those years he was 33-36 on clay and 4-11 indoors. That is exactly why his week on the indoor hard courts of Orleans is a small piece of news.

The Spaniard opened the tournament by beating Jurij Rodionov 6-4 4-6 6-4, then dropped just five games against Martineau, 6-3 6-2, and closed out his quarterfinal against Hemery in a tie-break. In the live rankings he is No. 117 with 507 points, 24 places higher than on 9 September. This season he had reached the final at the Genoa Challenger, lost to Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4 6-2, and the semifinals in Villena.

Virtanen, 25, reached his career-high ranking of No. 103 on 21 September 2026. He has slipped since then: in the live rankings he is No. 124 with 490 points, 18 places lower than on 9 September. His form, though, is back. He has won seven of his last ten matches, and before Orleans he reached the semifinals in Brest, where he lost to Moise Kouame 6-1 6-2.

In Orleans the Finn started with his toughest win: 6-1 2-6 7-6(2) over Prizmic. He then beat Dalibor Svrcina 6-3 7-5 and Gueymard Wayenburg in straight sets. He has never played Martinez Portero; against Altmaier, a possible opponent in the final, their record stands at one win apiece.

Whatever happens, Orleans will crown a new champion. The 2025 edition was won by Spain's Martin Landaluce, who beat Collignon 6-7(6) 6-2 6-3 in the final. Neither of them is among this year's semifinalists. The longest match of the week remains the first-round clash between Gueymard Wayenburg and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer: 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3, 34 games.

Saturday's schedule opens with Basavareddy against Altmaier, followed by Martinez Portero against Virtanen. The two winners will play for the title and its 125 points on Sunday. For Altmaier, the last seed standing, it would confirm the predictions; for the other three, it is a chance to enter the next rankings with a real jump.