Following fourth-round appearances on the US Open, Dominic Stricker, Rinky Hijikata and Borna Gojo cracked the High 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the primary time Monday. Thiago Seyboth Wild earned back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles to additionally make his High 100 debut.
ATPTour.com critiques highlights from every participant’s season to have a good time their breakthroughs.
Dominic Stricker
The 21-year-old is the youngest Swiss to achieve the milestone since 20-year-old Stan Wawrinka did so in 2005. A five-time ATP Challenger Tour champion, together with two titles this 12 months, Stricker made a splash at Flushing Meadows by gorgeous seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set, second-round match. The lefty struck 78 winners all through the four-hour, 10-minute encounter and maintained his kind to make the fourth spherical, lifting him 38 spots to World No. 90.
Stricker will look to proceed his surge to qualify for the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals for a second consecutive 12 months. A semi-finalist eventually 12 months’s 21-and-under occasion, he’s presently seventh within the Pepperstone ATP Dwell Race To Jeddah.
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Rinky Hijikata
The US Open will all the time maintain particular recollections for the Australian. In 2022, he made his Grand Slam main-draw debut towards 22-time main champion Rafael Nadal, who defeated Hijikata in 4 units on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Quick ahead a 12 months, Hijikata reached the fourth spherical in New York, propelling him to World No. 82.
“It feels actually good to have the ability to crack the High 100. Clearly it’s been an enormous objective of mine for some time now and to lastly be cemented within the High 100 is fairly particular,” Hijikata mentioned. “I feel it’s an enormous objective for everyone, getting computerized entry into the Grand Slams. I’m trying ahead to hopefully staying there and seeing how far up the rankings I can go.”
Since Hijikata turned professional in 2021 following two years on the College of North Carolina, he has collected two ATP Challenger Tour titles, each on house soil. The 22-year-old made a tour-level breakthrough this 12 months on the ATP 250 occasion in ‘s-Hertogenbosch the place as a fortunate loser he reached the semi-finals.
“The Challenger Tour has been nice for me. There’s so many high quality gamers on the Challenger Tour and I truthfully really feel like the extent isn’t too totally different between Challengers and ATP Tour occasions,” Hijikata mentioned. “To make that transition is essential, to play Challengers and put your self week in and week out towards some high quality gamers, simply with the ability to again up good weeks week after week is tough to do and necessary.”
Borna Gojo
The 25-year-old superior by means of qualifying at Flushing Meadows en path to the Spherical of 16, the place he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. At No. 77 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Gojo is the primary Croatian since Borna Coric in 2014 to crack the High 100.
“It’s actually satisfying to crack the High 100. Now it provides you much more motivation to push ahead to go up the rankings as a lot as doable,” Gojo mentioned.
Gojo’s 19-9 Challenger-match document this season put him in prime place to achieve the milestone on the season’s ultimate main, the place he began the event as World No. 105.
“I didn’t verify the rankings that a lot. Mid-season, I began to verify it a bit extra after which now once more, I wasn’t actually checking. It simply occurred on the US Open with an excellent event,” mentioned Gojo.
Thiago Seyboth Wild
No person boasts a greater Challenger-match document this season than Seyboth Wild (38-9). The 23-year-old earned back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles (Como, Genoa) the previous two weeks to surpass the High 100.
“Challengers are powerful to win and I’m happy with what I’ve achieved. Hopefully I can proceed profitable matches and larger tournaments,” mentioned Seyboth Wild, who has gained 4 Challenger trophies this season. “The Challenger Tour has actually helped me develop my recreation and to organize for these larger tournaments.”
Earlier this season, the Brazilian No. 1 superior by means of Roland Garros qualifying and upset Daniil Medvedev within the opening spherical en path to a third-round look. He turned the lowest-ranked participant (then-No. 172) to beat a second seed within the first spherical at Roland Garros since 1998. The standout 12 months has been a welcomed sight for Seyboth Wild.
“It feels nice to be within the High 100. I began the 12 months exterior the High 400 so this is a vital step for me,” World No. 76 Seyboth Wild mentioned. “I’ve been working exhausting all 12 months with my group and I hope to proceed to climb the rankings.”
