In 2018, a new ATP Challenger tournament was born with a $54.160 prize money. The possibility to host a stage of this circuit in Abruzzo, after the confirmed success of the tournament in Francavilla al mare, was an unexpected surprise, welcomed with enthusiasm by the Circolo Tennis L’Aquila Club.
In front of an audience of more than 10,000 fans in L’Aquila there were top-level tennis players fighting for the first title like Paolo Lorenzi (no. 74 in the world during that tournament week), Roberto Carballes Baena (No. 73), Hugo Dellien, Rogerio Dutra Silva, Gianluigi Quinzi and the winner Facundo Bagnis.

The 2019 cup was raised by the argentine Andrea Collarini, who faced the favorite Andrej Martin in the final. However, the memorable presence of the second edition was the sixteen year old Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, destined to climb the ATP ranking in a short time, accompanied by the former No. 1 coach in the world Juan Carlos Ferrero.

This was an opportunity that has contributed, together with other local initiatives, to give an important impetus to one of the territories hit by the earthquake and that have characterized central Italy in recent years, both in economic terms and visibility.