(2023) Qualification for Goffin and French teenage talents

The main tournament was enriched on Sunday with rock-solid qualifiers. Among others, Belgian hero David Goffin and only 18-year-old Arthur Fils have come through the preliminaries strongly.

It is a pity there are no ties in tennis. Indeed, the success of Goffin, finalist in 2015, went hand in hand with a sour defeat for Jesper de Jong. The Dutchman got a match point in the tiebreak of the third set but could not cash in: 2-6 6-2 7-6(6).

Goffin (32) was the second seed in the qualifiers behind Arthur Fils. The young Frenchman, who recently won his first ATP title in Lyon, dealt with compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the last qualifying round: 6-3 6-3.

Fils is not the only French teenager to have advanced to the main draw. His one-year older colleague Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard followed suit, winning 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 against Edan Leshem and thus will make his debut at an ATP tournament.

The fourth and final qualifier listens to the name Ricardas Berankis. The former world number 50 was too strong for 22-year-old Australian Rinky Hijikata in straight sets: 6-4 6-4.

Among the women, six international players have advanced to the main tournament. Germany’s Lena Papadakis, Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, Switzerland’s Susan Bandecchi, Canada’s Carol Zhao, America’s Emina Bektas and Serbia’s Natalija Stevanovic are continuing their campaign.