by Patrick FAVRE | 25 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
The partnership between Gonet bank and the Geneva Open is made to last. As the naming sponsor of the only ATP 250 tournament held in French-speaking Switzerland, Gonet bank has extended its contract, which ran until 2025, to include the 2026 and 2027 editions of the tournament.
The Gonet Geneva Open is the only ATP 250 tournament to have featured three members of Big Four since 2021, with appearances by Roger Federer in 2021, and Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic this year. Thanks to the support of its naming sponsor, the Gonet Geneva Open is making a name for itself as one of the most competitive tournaments in the ATP 250 category. The popular success that it has enjoyed over the years has made it one of the main events on the city and canton’s social scene.
by Patrick FAVRE | 25 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
This afternoon, with partner Marcelo Arevalo, Mate Pavic lifted his fourth trophy in Geneva! The Croatian player has a real soft spot for the lakeside city. What is more, the 2021 Olympic champion has now won the doubles tournament with three different partners. “I feel at home here. It’s a very special feeling… In recent years, when we were planning our schedule, I told all of my different partners that I had just one condition: we can do whatever you like, but I want to go to Geneva,” he laughed. A smiling Marcelo added, “Only this morning he was piling on the pressure, saying that he was unbeaten on centre court at the Gonet Geneva Open! I think he wants to become the next Rafael Nadal of the tournament and win it fifteen times if he can!”
However, the winning pair did not have an easy ride this afternoon. Marcelo Arevalo and the now four-time winner of the tournament (2018 and 2019 with Oliver Marach, then 2022 with Nikola Mektic) took almost two hours to defeat the Salvadorian’s former teammate, Jean-Julien Rojer, and his partner Lloyd Glasspool, 7-6 (2) 7-5. “It’s true that the match was very close, there were not a lot of opportunities on either side. In the end, I think what made the difference was that we were slightly better in the pivotal moments,” analysed Mate Pavic after the match.
by Patrick FAVRE | 25 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
Novak Djokovic’s wait for his first title of the year goes on. Laid low by a stomach bug and perhaps surprised by the quality of tennis produced by world No. 44 Tomas Machac, the Serb’s Gonet Geneva Open came to an end in the semi-finals on Friday.
The Czech won a remarkable, rollercoaster encounter 6-4 0-6 6-1. Djokovic led 4-1 in the opening set before losing five games in a row. He then turned the tables on this opponent by winning seven on the spin but contrived to lose the last six and with them the match, a clear sign that he was well below his best. “You can’t draw any conclusions from a match like that,” he later surmised, and rightly so.
In defeating the best player of all time, the 23-year-old Machac moved into his first ever ATP Tour final, a deserved outcome in a week in which he has played some superb tennis. The Czech has still to find out who he will face in Saturday’s final, with the second semi-final, between Casper Ruud and Flavio Cobolli, having been postponed to tomorrow morning on account of Friday evening’s unwelcome rain.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, then, a Gonet Geneva Open semi-final will be played on the same day as the final, though it is far from a first in the tennis world, such is the havoc that the weather can cause with tight tournament schedules. Whoever emerges triumphant from it will face the unenviable task of trying to win two big matches in just a few short hours.
by Patrick FAVRE | 24 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
With rain having forced the cancellation of this evening’s second semi-final, it will now be played tomorrow at 10:30am. Despite this change to the scheduling, only tickets for the Saturday session (final) will be accepted tomorrow. On-site ticketing will open at 9am.
by Patrick FAVRE | 24 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
Novak Djokovic has been at his unflappable best at the Gonet Geneva Open this week. After saving ten break points out of 11 against Yannick Hanfmann on Tuesday, the world No. 1 pulled off another escapology act against Tallon Griekspoor (ATP 27), somehow winning the first set from 4-5 and 0-40 down and saving four set points in the process. “I was lucky to come away with that first set,” said the Serb afterwards, who eventually ran out a comfortable 7-5 6-1 winner in one hour 18 minutes. Waiting for him in the semis on Friday is 24-year-old Czech player Tomas Machac (ATP 44), who caused Djokovic plenty of problems in Dubai last year.
Also moving inexorably closer to the final is Casper Ruud, who will meet Flavio Cobolli (ATP 56) in the semi-finals after the Italian saw off Alexander Shevchenko (ATP 61) 6-4 6-4. The Norwegian prevailed in a superb three-setter against Sebastian Baez (ATP 20), though he needed a little luck along the way, with a providential net cord on the penultimate point of the match proving crucial. The Argentinian’s subsequent double fault on match point was almost inevitable after that.
The two went blow for blow before that dramatic finale in a chilly night session, showing that their recent results on clay owed nothing to luck and everything to masterful control of the surface.
by Patrick FAVRE | 22 May, 2024 | News_slider-en, News_Tournoi-en
Novak Djokovic will always remember his first outing at the Parc des Eaux-Vives, as he secured his 1,100th ATP Tour win on the day of his 37th birthday. Cheered on by a vociferous crowd, the world No. 1 saw off the threat posed by the dangerous Yannick Hanfmann (ATP 85) in straight sets.
His 6-3 6-3 victory was not all plain sailing, however, with the German forcing 11 break points, including one for 4-0 in the second set, but was able to convert only one of them. The Serb’s resilience reflected his desire to go the distance at his maiden Gonet Geneva Open. Before he went off to enjoy his birthday cake, Djokovic reminded everyone just why he is the best by winning outstanding back-to-back points on the Hanfmann serve at 0-15 and 0-30. As those rallies showed, he has every intention of taking up Casper Ruud on his offer of a dream final on Saturday, a match-up that the whole of Geneva is crossing its fingers for. A former two-time champion here, the Norwegian was taken all the way by Austria’s Sebastian Ofner (ATP 45), eventually prevailing 4-6 6-2 6-2.
Another highlight of the day was a standout win for Alex Michelsen (ATP 65) in a spicy all-American meeting with Taylor Fritz (ATP 12). The 19-year-old Californian needed five match points to eventually see off his compatriot 6-4 4-6 7-5 and advance to his first quarter-final in an ATP Tour clay-court tournament.
