On Friday, the 2023 ATP New Talent Finals entered the semi-final contest. First up was a French civil war, where Van Ascher, the second in the red group, met Fez, the first in the green group;In the other semi-final, Serbian rising star Mejdovic, who is the first in the red group, takes on the second Swiss teenager in the green group, Stricker.
Top seed Fes and second seed Van Asher met once in the junior tournament at the 2021 French Open, winning in straight sets in the final of their home Grand Slam at Roland Garros. In the six-year history of the ATP New Force Finals, they became the first Frenchman pair to reach the semifinals. This year's Lyon champions Fes qualified for the semi-finals in the green group with a perfect record of 3-0, while Van Ascher finished second in the red group with a 2-1 record.
The French derby saw 19-year-old top seed Fes beat Van Asher 2-4 4-1 4-3(1) 4-3(6) after a thrilling battle of one hour and 37 minutes. The world number 36 used his powerful forehand to pressure his opponent and dominated his own serve, winning 23 of his 24 first serve in the third and fourth sets to earn his ticket to the final on his fourth match point, becoming the first Frenchman to reach the final in the six years of the ATP Emerging Forces Finals. After the game, Fez couldn't hide his excitement: "Today was a difficult game, and the opponent was a very, very good friend. We've known each other since we were nine years old, so the race was a bit tough and I'm happy to win it. I came to the pitch with the mentality that I could win. The first set was tough, he played well, defended well and ran fast. I kept my focus and I'm very happy with the win. ”
Van Ascher, who did not make it to the final, confirmed his performance this week and looked forward to the new season: "It was an amazing game, a great experience for the players, today we lost badly, but it was a great week. Every year there are a lot of players who have gone through the New Force Finals and do well the following year, so I hope that will be the case next year. I want to play better, win some titles, win more matches in the Grand Slams. ”
Serbian rising star Mejdovic, who has been heavily funded by Novak Djokovic, has won three Challenger tournaments this season under former world No. 12 coach Troicki, the youngest player to win three ATP Challenger titles this season. Twice reached the semi-finals of the Tour in Gastad and Astana, and at one point the highest ranking reached 102nd, making it to this year's New Talent Finals for the first time. Although he missed the opportunity for the new generation to take photos and pre-match activities because he went to the Davis Cup to cheer for the Serbian team, and rushed to Jeddah at the last minute before the game, he won all three games in the group stage and successfully reached the semi-finals. In the final group game against wildcard Jordan's Scherbay on Thursday, Mejdovic dropped the first set, but from the second set onwards, he went from strength to strength, conceding 18 aces, winning 88 per cent of the first serve and saving three break points to beat Sherbai 3-4(5) 4-2 4-3(5) 4-2 4-2 to advance to the semi-finals.
Swiss teenager Stricker finished 1-2 in the Green Group, but he reached the semi-finals with a 45% win rate ahead of Italy's Koboli and Nardi, who also won 1-2. While he didn't perform at his best in the group stage, he had an advantage in experience: as the only player to qualify for the second time at this year's ATP Newcomers Finals, Stricker won all three of his group games in Milan last season to reach the semi-finals. Since then, he has gained quite a bit of tournament experience. The 21-year-old Swiss star won two consecutive Challenger titles at the start of the season, and the biggest highlight was the five-set victory over Tsitsipas in a five-set battle at the US Open, which led to the last 16 of the US Open and the first Grand Slam round of 16 in his career. The breakthrough at the US Open helped the Swiss reach a career-high world ranking of 88.
In this semi-final between Mejdovic and Stricker, the first set was extremely fierce, and both sides served perfectly. Mejdovic scored 93 per cent of his first serve (14 out of 15), while Strick's 11 served points did not drop a point. The two sides who can't find a hole in the opponent's serve take the game to a tie-break. Mejdovic played his best in the tie-break, breaking through the Swiss left-hander to win the first set. In the second set, Mejdovic took the lead in breaking serve, and at 2-1 the match, Stricker announced his retirement due to a back injury, and the match came to an abrupt end after only 32 minutes. Mejdovic reached the final of the 2023 ATP New Talent Finals with a winning streak of four fights, the first time the Serbian has reached the final of the New Talent Finals, where he will face Fez for the final trophy.
Who will lift the championship trophy of the two young players who have won all four matches?(*Home of Tennis Author: mei).