Sebastian Ofner has played an outstanding first half of the 2023 season! After the Styrian stormed out of the qualifying rounds at the French Open in Paris and into the round of 16, he also scored his first tournament win this year at the ATP Challenger in Salzburg last week. This is the first time Ofner has made the leap into the top 60 and, as the current number 58, has achieved his best ranking to date. As a reminder, the 27-year-old started the current season from position 193.

If things continue in this vein, Ofner has the best chance of qualifying directly for the main draw of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, which takes place from October 21 to 29. He would be only the third Austrian in the 500 era of the Austrian tennis highlight, which began in 2015, after Dominic Thiem and Andreas Haider-Maurer, to be represented in the main event at the home tournament without a wildcard. A rank around 30 will probably be necessary to achieve this goal. For comparison: Last year the “cut off” – that is the world ranking position which guaranteed a starting place in the main draw of the Erste Bank Open – was 28.

“Sebastian Ofner has presented himself very strongly in the course of the season so far and has improved enormously in the world rankings. If he continues to play at a consistently high level in the coming weeks and months, he will climb further up the rankings. This means he could make it into the main event of the Erste Bank Open even without a wildcard. Regardless of that, I am very happy about the good performances and successes my compatriot has already celebrated this year,” comments tournament director Herwig Straka on Sebastian Ofner’s upward trend.