There are currently six Austrians in the main field of the ATP Challenger. Three of them start against qualifiers.
A real thriller awaits tennis fans at the start of the main competition of the LAYJET-OPEN in Bad Waltersdorf. In the first round of the 145,000 euro ATP 125 Challenger tournament in the Styrian thermal and volcanic region there will be a “duel of the giants” between Fabio Fognini and Benoit Paire. This was the result of the draw carried out on Saturday in the Sportaktivpark. With the Italian and the Frenchman, who is seeded seven, two of the most dazzling players of recent years will meet on the tennis tour.
Fognini has celebrated nine ATP singles tournament victories in his career and has the best world ranking position of ninth place. Paire won three ATP singles titles and reached a career-high ranking of 18th place. In the direct duels between the two eccentrics, the score is 3:3. The two had their toughest fight in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne in 2017, where Paire had the upper hand in five hard-fought sets. “The duel between Fabio Fognini and Benoit Paire is a real awesome match at the start of the LAYJET OPEN. In this game, not only two great players but also two extremely cool guys collide. “It will definitely be a hot match,” said tournament director Peter Westner. The duel between the two tennis warriors is scheduled for Tuesday, September 19th.
Misolic, Novak and Neumayer against qualifiers
Three of the six Austrians currently in the main competition of the LAYJET OPEN do not yet know their opponents. The Styrian local hero Filip Misolic (ATP rank 165) will face a qualifier in the opening round, as will Lower Austria’s Dennis Novak (ATP 192) and Salzburg’s Lukas Neumayer (ATP 217). The Vorarlberg young star Joel Schwärzler (ATP 1182) has hit a tough spot with the experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ATP rank 95), who is ranked four. The Styrian talent Sebastian Sorger (ATP 759) meets the Czech Zdenek Kolar (ATP 171) in his main draw debut at an ATP Challenger. While Schwärzler and Sorger are outsiders in their games, the Lower Austrian Jurij Rodionov (ATP 109), who is ranked fifth, is easily favored against the Italian Andrea Pellegrino (ATP 221).
In the qualification are the sixth seeded Tyrolean Sandro Kopp (ATP 415), the Viennese Neil Oberleitner (ATP 524), the Lower Austrian Gerald Melzer (ATP 529), the Burgenlanders David Pichler (ATP 576) and Matthias Ujvary (ATP 1028). Styrians Syl Gaxherri (ATP 1876) and Jan Kobierski (ATP 1948) and the Viennese Nick Ihlenfeld (ATP -) now even have eight Austrians there, the last four thanks to wild cards.
TIME SCHEDULE
Sunday September 17th
10:00 a.m: 1st round qualification
Monday, September 18th
10:00 a.m: 2nd round qualification, 1st round main competition
Tuesday, September 19th
10:00 a.m: 1st round main competition
Wednesday, September 20th
10:00 a.m: 1st round and round of 16 main competition
Thursday, September 21st
10:00 a.m: Round of 16 main competition
Friday, September 22nd
11:00 o’clock: Quarterfinals main competition
Saturday September 23rd
11:00 o’clock: Final doubles
13:00 ‘O clock: Semi-final singles
Sunday September 24th
13:00 ‘O clock: Final singles
TICKETINFORMATION
Tickets for the ATP Challenger tournament in Bad Waltersdorf can be purchased on the tournament website under the link www.layjet-open.at/tickets. The prices are between 15.00 and 35.00 euros.
About the LAYJET OPEN:
After a 15-year break, the ATP Challenger Tour is celebrating a comeback in Styria. At the LAYJET-OPEN in the Sportaktivpark in Bad Waltersdorf, fans will be presented with top tennis from September 17th to 24th, 2023. The last Challenger tournament on white-green ground was held in Graz-Reininghaus in 2008.
The LAYJET-OPEN is a tournament in the 125 category. With prize money of 145,000 euros, the tennis highlight in the Eastern Styrian thermal and volcanic region is, together with the Salzburg Open, the third largest tournament in Austria after the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and the Generali Open in Kitzbühel. The winner receives 125 ATP points for the world rankings. There will be 32 players in the singles, 16 pairs in the doubles, and 24 players will take up the racket in the qualification for the singles.
2023-09-17 14:56:34
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