Québec City Challenger Entry List: Blockx, Fery and Diallo Lead Inaugural Field

Professional tennis is coming back to Québec City.

And it isn’t coming back quietly.

The inaugural Challenger Banque Nationale de Québec arrives August 17-23 at the PEPS facility at Université Laval, bringing an ATP Challenger 125 event to a city with a remarkable professional tennis history.

The tournament will be played on outdoor hard courts and features a 28-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw. It also arrives at a fascinating point on the tennis calendar, sitting between the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and the US Open.

That timing should make Québec City an attractive destination for players looking for matches, ranking points and momentum before the final Grand Slam of the season.

And judging by the initial Quebec City entry list, the tournament has plenty of players capable of putting on a show, beginning Aug 17, 2026.

Québec City Challenger Tournament Facts

• Tournament: Challenger Banque Nationale de Québec
• Category: ATP Challenger 125
• Location: Québec City, Québec, Canada
• Venue: PEPS, Université Laval
• Surface: Outdoor hard court
• Dates: August 17–23, 2026
• Singles Draw: 28 players
• Doubles Draw: 16 teams
• Prize Money: $225,000
• Defending Champion: Inaugural edition — no defending champion
• Top Entry: Alexander Blockx
• Home Favorite: Gabriel Diallo
• Tournament Status: Inaugural event
• US Open Connection: Played during the final North American hard-court stretch before the US Open

Québec City Challenger Entry List

Entry lists are subject to change before the tournament begins.

Main Draw

• Alexander Blockx — Belgium — No. 32
• Zizou Bergs — Belgium — No. 36
• Arthur Fery — Great Britain — No. 37
• Luca Van Assche — France — No. 48
• Quentin Halys — France — No. 52
• Térence Atmane — France — No. 56
• Botic van de Zandschulp — Netherlands — No. 69
• James Duckworth — Australia — No. 83
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard — France — No. 87
• Jan Choinski — Great Britain — No. 88
• Hugo Gaston — France — No. 90
• Rinky Hijikata — Australia — No. 93
• Sho Shimabukuro — Japan — No. 94
• Dino Prižmić — Croatia — No. 98
• Gabriel Diallo — Canada — No. 99
• Benjamin Bonzi — France — No. 101
• Alexei Popyrin — Australia — No. 103
• Aleksandar Vukic — Australia — No. 105
• Nicolai Budkov Kjaer — Norway — No. 152
• Rei Sakamoto — Japan — No. 165
• Juncheng Shang — China — No. 281

Qualifying

• Eliot Spizzirri — USA — No. 109
• Yunchaokete Bu — China — No. 111
• Patrick Kypson — USA — No. 113
• Kyrian Jacquet — France — No. 120
• Christopher O’Connell — Australia — No. 136
• Jurij Rodionov — Austria — No. 136
• Andrea Pellegrino — Italy — No. 137
• Mackenzie McDonald — USA — No. 145
• Francesco Maestrelli — Italy — No. 149
• Dušan Lajović — Serbia — No. 152
• Chris Rodesch — Luxembourg — No. 153
• Stefanos Sakellaridis — Greece — No. 155
• Soonwoo Kwon — South Korea — No. 158

Québec City Has Tennis History

The arrival of the Québec Challenger isn’t simply the beginning of professional tennis in Québec City.

It is a return.

Québec City previously hosted the Bell Challenge, a WTA event that ran from 1993 through 2018.

The tournament also became part of tennis history in 1995 when a 14-year-old Serena Williams played the first professional match of her career in Québec City qualifying.

Williams lost that match to fellow American Annie Miller 6-1, 6-1.

Obviously, the teenager’s story didn’t end there.

Serena went on to become one of the greatest players in tennis history, winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

Now, more than 30 years later, a new generation of men’s players gets the opportunity to make its own mark in Québec City.

Tennis Canada calls the new event one of the most competitive tournaments in Canada outside the National Bank Open in Montréal and Toronto.

Key Québec City Entry List Storylines

1. Blockx, Bergs and Fery Make This a Serious Challenger Field

Three players ranked inside the Top 40 headline the tournament, with Van Assche, Halys and Atmane giving the top half even more quality. For an inaugural Challenger 125, that’s a hell of a foundation.

2. The Canadian Pressure Falls on Gabriel Diallo

Diallo is the obvious home-country storyline, but he’s not here just to wave the flag. He’s a legitimate contender in a field where the home crowd could become a real advantage. This is a great opportunity for him to make a statement in front of Canadian fans.

3. The Qualifying Field Could Produce Chaos

This might be my favorite one. McDonald, Lajović, O’Connell, Kypson, Bu and Spizzirri aren’t your typical Challenger qualifying names. Somebody is going to come through qualifying with enough experience and firepower to make the main draw uncomfortable.