Ritschard Stuns Sousa, Lehecka Books Ruud Clash In Gstaad

Perseverance paid off for Alexander Ritschard at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad on Monday afternoon.

The 28-year-old wild card upset eighth seed Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3 to notch his maiden tour-level win at the clay-court ATP 250 event in his homeland.

“[It’s] very special. I’m very happy with the result. There’s no better feeling than winning your first ATP Tour match at home,” said Ritschard after the match. “I just played my game, which is very aggressive. I was just brave enough to go for my shots.”

After playing in qualifying in Gstaad in 2012, 2013 and 2016 without reaching the main draw, Ritschard banished the memory of those disappointments in style on Monday, breaking the four-time Tour titlist Sousa’s serve four times in a 92-minute victory.

Ritschard impressed on tour-level debut at Wimbledon three weeks ago, when his powerful shotmaking pushed World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas to four sets on the London grass. His reward for the victory against Sousa in the Swiss mountains is a second-round meeting with fourth seed and 2019 champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

A top performance 👏

Alexander Ritschard gets his first ever ATP tour win after defeating Sousa 6-3 6-3!#SwissOpenGstaad pic.twitter.com/ukiWBwBEee

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 18, 2022

Also on Monday, #NextGenATP Czech Jiri Lehecka completed a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory against Tomas Martin Etcheverry to book a second-round showdown with top seed Casper Ruud. Lehecka dropped just five points behind serve in a one-hour encounter to avenge his defeat to Etcheverry in the Santiago quarter-finals in February.

In a meeting between two Spaniards making their tournament debuts, fifth seed Pedro Martinez sealed a 6-4, 6-3 win against Carlos Teberner. Martinez, who won his maiden ATP Tour title in Santiago in February, broke Taberner’s serve four times to set up a second-round meeting with Benoit Paire or Elias Ymer.

Federico Delbonis was another straight-sets winner on Day 1 in Switzerland. The Argentine defeated 2021 quarter-finalist Mikael Ymer, 6-4, 7-5.