One of the most under-promoted yet interesting tournaments in tennis occurs annually since 2011 on the Challenger Tour. At the end of the 2011 season, the Challenger Tour began hosting its equivalent of the World Tour Finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The tournament consists of seven of the top Challenger players over the year as well as one wildcard, who has always been Brazilian.

This tournament is the highest-paying tournament on the Challenger Tour, which means that for many of these players it is the biggest tournament of the year where any of them has a chance to shine. Granted, a lucky draw and two or three match wins at a major might earn them more money, but the vast majority of players on the Challenger Tour never will reach the third round of a major or achieve a result of similar significance. Thus, the Brazilian tournament is a big opportunity for these players and generally provides compelling tennis, even if these players cannot compete at the level that they do at the World Tour Finals.

Generally, there are two types of players who reach the Challenger Tour Finals. There are the veterans and journeymen who cannot compete consistently on the ATP circuit but still can win tournaments at the Challenger level. And then there are the up-and-comers who move through the Challenger ranks on the way towards becoming better players. Both previous champions of this tournament, Guido Pella last year and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in 2011, have been examples of those up-and-comers. Neither of them has had great success at the top level yet, but the talent is there, and they should make some waves eventually.

The interest for us in this tournament, then, lies in finding out what some of these up-and-comers can do in their first real pressure situations. Several players in the tournament this year are Challenger Tour veterans and have made some sort of foray into ATP relevance at some point. Teymuraz Gabashvili, for example, once reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, upsetting Andy Roddick in the process. On the other hand, Alejandro Gonzalez never has competed in a main draw at a major.

There are two up-and-coming players in particular, though, who deserve extra attention this year. Brazilian wildcard Guilherme Clezar is probably a few years away from consistently competing on the ATP circuit, but he has been impressive as he has moved up through the rankings. With his semifinal showing in Bogota last week, Clezar broke into the top 160 for the first time in his career. He rarely leaves the South American continent, and his results near home are much better than anything that he has done in Europe. That said, he looks like a strong clay talent and could become a solid clay-courter at the ATP level in the coming years. Clezar is entertaining to watch and definitely someone to keep an eye on.

Another player in Brazil worth watching is Ukrainian Oleksandr Nedovyesov. He is not exactly young at the age of 26, but he has recently broken into the top 100 for the first time. Nedovyesov is a talented player with a strong serve and a good ground game. His ranking hovered between 500 and 1000 for several years as he played college tennis at Oklahoma State, where he was a three-time All-American. The college game seemed to have served Nedovyesov well, for he has translated it beautifully to the Challenger Tour. He has won three Challenger tournaments this yearand finished runner-up at a fourth. The Ukrainian can play well on both clay and hard courts, which is not so common for college tennis standouts, but he seems to be a bit better on hard. He is definitely someone to keep an eye out for, both this week and next year.

Even without the promise of seeing future potential stars compete, the Challenger Finals should offer compelling tennis. It is usually very competitive and provides an insight into what it is like to compete as a good player on the lower tour. The tournament used to be on indoor hard courts like the World Tour Finals, but it will be contested on clay for the first time this year.