Wiger-Nordas becomes first Grizzly to earn ATP Tour points

The Montana men's tennis team's historic 2025 season came to a close on May 3 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against the Texas Longhorns in Austin. Final exams at UM started the following week, with commencement held May 10.

Nine days later, Grizzly rising senior Baltazar Wiger-Nordas was back on the court, half a world away pursuing his pro tennis dreams in an ATP Futures tournament in Kotka, Finland. And virtually every week since he's been jet-setting around Europe from one tournament to the next in Ireland, Serbia, Turkey, and his home country of Norway, among others.

As a first-team All-Big Sky pick with an ITA Mountain Region top 20 ranking, the UM No. 2 already had a year for the Grizzly record books. But over the weekend he was back in Finland making even more Montana tennis history.

Wiger-Nordas became the first Grizzly to ever earn ATP Pro Tour singles points this week after winning through qualification and advancing to the quarterfinal of the Turku Open, an ITF M15 Futures tournament in Turku, Finland.

To get there he defeated Peetu Pohjola in the opening round of the tournament, leading 6-0, 3-2 when Pohjola retired.

In one of the biggest wins of his career, he then beat Ben Jones of the UK in the second round, bouncing back from a first set loss to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Jones started the summer ranked No. 620 in the world and has been ranked as high as No. 184 in doubles.

Wiger-Nordas suffered his first loss of the weekend in the quarterfinal, falling to Finn Bass of the UK (2-6, 1-6) who plays collegiate tennis at Baylor, which finished the year ranked No. 19 in the nation.

Players accrue ATP Tour points by winning rounds in sanctioned pro tournaments. The more points accrued, the better the world ranking.

The points put a cherry on top of a busy summer for Wiger-Nordas, who broke through in his 10^th tournament in under three months. With his senior season still to come, it also bodes well for Montana's hopes of repeating as Big Sky Conference champions.

"It's been an amazing summer for Baltazar, just in the fact he's now won several pro matches in both singles and doubles in the last few months and has dedicated himself to improving his tennis. He's been locked in. He's traveled the whole summer playing and I love that the end result was him getting a win over a guy who was top 600 in the world. I'm just proud of his efforts. I think he's setting himself up for an amazing senior season," said UM head coach Jason Brown.

"Being the first Grizzly to ever get ATP points is something we need to celebrate and commend because it shows how hard these guys are pushing the program forward. And this isn't even from the guy who played number one last year. This is from our number two player, which really shows how hard these guys are working."

Wiger-Nordas and the Griz won the program's first Big Sky championship tournament in over a decade in 2025, advancing to play in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2014. He was named first team All-Big Sky in singles after going 14-6 on the season and 12-4 on court two.

Montana earned its highest-ever regional ranking at the end of the season at No. 7, with Wiger-Nordas one of two Grizzlies to earn a singles ranking at No. 20. He and his partner, Fernando Perez, also capped the year ranked as the No. 10 doubles pair in the region.

He's one of just four Grizzlies all-time to earn a regional singles ranking.

Wiger-Nordas and the Griz return to Missoula next week for the opening of the fall semester and will continue to compete throughout the fall tournament season.

University of Montana Athletics

Wiger-Nordas becomes first Grizzly to earn ATP Tour points

Players Mentioned

Fernando Perez

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

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