As feared, luck was not on Switzerland’s side in the first round of the Qualifying tournament on Saturday. Antoine Bellier (ATP No.345), Damien Wenger (No.381) and Jakub Paul (No.516) all tasted the bitterness of defeat. As a consequence, for the first time in the tournament’s history, there will be no Swiss players in the main draw of the Gonet Geneva Open.
Though Bellier and Wenger – who were defeated 6-3 6-4 by the Netherlands’ Gijs Brouwer (No.241) and 6-2 6-4 by Jordan’s Abdullah Shelbayh (No.244), respectively – suffered convincing losses, Paul briefly had victory within reach. The player from Grisons took Argentina’s Juan Pablo Ficovich (No.232) to three sets. At 5-3 in the decider, Paul did not take advantage of the break point to get back into the match.
The man to watch in the Qualifying tournament, former World No.7 David Goffin (No.114) managed to live up to his status. In the sold-out venue, the Belgian defeated Italy’s Gianluca Mager 6-3 6-1 to round off the day in style. Tickets are also sold-out for Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.
Another high point of the day was the press conference held by Andy Murray. The former World No.1 complimented the venue and added that he was excited at the prospect of playing Novak Djokovic on Wednesday. “We haven’t played each other in a while,” he said, smiling. The last time was back in January 2017, when Djokovic defeated Murray in the final in Doha.
