The 2023 Gonet Geneva Open has not proved a happy hunting ground for Swiss players so far. Following Jérôme Kym’s unfortunate exit in the first round of the qualifying competition on Saturday, Marc-Andrea Hüsler (ATP 81) came up just short against Yibing Wu (ATP 59), the Zurich-born left-hander going down 6-4 4-6 7-6 (6) to the first Chinese player to win an ATP tournament, in Dallas earlier this year.
The main attraction on today’s order of play, the match turned into something of a nightmare for the Swiss No. 1, who had a match point at 6-5 in the third-set tie-break and failed to do much with it. Wu played the next two points to perfection to book his place in the next round, where he will face Marco Cecchinato.
Hüsler also passed up two break points that would have left him serving for the match at 5-2 and then lost his own serve from 40-0 in the very next game. The Swiss player’s failure to get across the line is perhaps a reflection of his low confidence following five defeats and only two wins on clay heading into what was his main-draw debut at the Gonet Geneva Open.
Adrian Mannarino (ATP 47) had no such problems as he swung his left arm to great effect to beat Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic (ATP 92) 7-5 6-1. Beaten in the first round on his last two appearances at the Parc des Eaux-Vives, the win was a welcome one for the Frenchman.