Strong second half of the year for Zug Open stars

12/27/2023 Zurück zur Übersicht

Strong second half of the year for Zug Open stars

The 2024 ATP season kicks off in a few days with tournaments in Australia and the first highlight of the year, the Australian Open, from mid-January. Tennis fans are eagerly awaiting these first matches. Some of the players who took part in the Zug Open at the end of July 2023 caused a sensation in the second half of 2023 with strong performances - and we will soon see whether they can carry this momentum into the new year.

Dominic Stricker

The 21-year-old from Bern provided the autumn tennis highlight from a Swiss perspective. At the US Open, where he played in a Grand Slam main draw for the third time in a row, he strung together 6 victories including qualis. He achieved a veritable exploit by reaching the round of 16. Among others, he beat the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP 7) in a memorable 5-set match in the second round. After another five-setter against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, local hero Taylor Fritz (USA, ATP 9) was the last man standing.

Another strong performance at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where he reached the quarter-finals thanks to a victory over the Norwegian Casper Ruud (ATP 8), secured Stricker's participation in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. At the event, where the eight best U21 players of the season compete, Stricker had to retire due to injury in the semi-final against the eventual winner Hamad Medjedovic.

Due to this thigh injury, it is still uncertain whether Stricker will be able to take part in the Australian Open, as he explained on SRF's "Sportpanorama" (17.12.2023).

Hamad Medjedovic

A very strong Swiss Open Gstaad (ATP 250) with a semi-final appearance was followed by a bitter first-round defeat to Yuri Rodionov at the Zug Open. However, a third Challenger triumph in Mallorca in 2023 (after Szekesfehervar/HUN and Mauthausen/AUT) and reaching the semi-finals at the ATP 250 tournament in Astana in September paved the way for Medjedovic to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. And the 20-year-old Serbian played a great performance there: He won all of his round robin matches and, after Stricker retired in the semi-finals, beat the tournament favourite Arthur Fils (FRA, ATP 36) in the final. After Novak Djokovic’s victory at the ATP Finals in Turin, both end-of-season tournaments were firmly in Serbian hands.

Strong second half of the year for Zug Open stars

Kilian Feldbausch

The then 17-year-old Kilian Feldbausch from Geneva – who had been awarded a wild card – faced a tough draw in the first round of the Zug Open: none other than Fabio Fognini on the centre court of the Zug Tennis Club. Despite the 4:6 2:6 defeat, the young talent took many positive experiences at Challenger level with him into the autumn. After a number of ITF M15 and M25 tournaments in Europe and South/North America, the brilliant highlight of the season followed at the end of November: Feldbausch strung together victory after victory at the Challenger tournament in Maspalomas on the Canary Islands, culminating in a first-time appearance in the Challenger final. In a hard-fought final, Feldbausch lost to Spain’s Pedro Martinez (ATP 117) after 2:20 hours.

Fabio Fognini

After a long four years and towards the end of a season characterised by injuries, the Masters 1000 champion from Monte Carlo 2019 enjoyed another tournament victory at the Challenger tournament in Valencia. He defeated the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (ATP 62) 3:6 7:6 7:6 after fending off match point and playing for over three hours. It was the highlight of an autumn run of improvement that began in Zug. Fognini reached the final of the Challenger tournament in Bergamo (l. to Thiago Seyboth Wild) before being rewarded with a semi-final appearance at the ATP 250 tournament in Metz after an impressive performance.

Zizou Bergs

The season of Belgian Zizou Bergs also had a special happy ending. Like Medjedovic, he also attracted attention with strong performances in Gstaad (quarter-finals) before being beaten by Yuri Rodionov in the quarter-finals of the Zug Open. What only became public much later: Bergs – who also won the hearts of fans in Zug because of his cute four-legged companion Copain – suffered an injury to his left wrist, which caused him to miss several tournaments or only be able to play slice shots on the backhand side. After making a comeback and making a full recovery, Bergs was on a roll at the end of the season: With the Challenger titles in Drummondville/CAN and Yokkaichi/JPN, he added the numbers 2 and 3 of the season to the one won in Tallahassee/USA in the spring and ensured a conciliatory end to the season.