The 18-year-old Austrian reached new heights in Skopje. He is also moving up the world rankings.
Joel Schwärzler has set a new milestone in his tennis career. The 18-year-old reached the final of a Challenger tournament for the first time on Friday. For comparison: Dominic Thiem was 20 years old when he achieved something similar.
The great ÖTV talent defeated the one year older Korean Gerard Campana Lee in the semifinals in Skopje after a fight lasting more than three hours with 6:7 (4), 6:3, 6:2.
The last hurdle awaits the 28-year-old Pole Kamil Majchrzak in the final on Saturday (second game after 11 a.m.). He is number 351 in the world, Schwärzler is still in position 664.
Jump in the world rankings
However, the left-hander will definitely make it into the top 500 in the rankings next week. The Vorarlberg native only needed five Challenger tournaments to be able to play for a title at the second highest tournament level for the first time. Previous highlights were the quarter-final appearances in Tallahassee and most recently in front of his home crowd in Mauthausen.
2024-05-24 15:51:00
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