The attention at the doubles final of the Swiss Open Gstaad was a lot greater than in previous years, thanks to Swiss participation. The victory of the Swiss doubles team Hüsler/Stricker made the final Sunday and the tournament perfect. In the singles, Norway’s Casper Ruud took the trophy.

“We didn’t have a single weather-related delay in this tournament,” the organisers around tournament director Jeff Collet were pleased to say. In previous editions of the tournament, the weather had turned into an adversary here and there. But not this year.

A very attractive starting field drew visibly more people to the stands on the final weekend than in other years. Everyone seemed to be happy that the tournament in Gstaad could take place again this year.

From a sporting point of view
For the two finalists in the singles, it was the first appearance at the Gstaad tournament. The two young players Casper Ruud (NOR) and Hugo Gaston (FRA) had defied the top seeds during the tournament week.

The final was worth watching because the decision was not as clear as the result suggests. In the middle of the second set, Gaston almost managed a break. They fought hard over every single point. In the end, Ruud had the better lot with 6:3 and 6:2.

Swiss drew crowd
The Swiss doubles team with Marc-Andrea Hüsler and Dominic Stricker created an unusually exuberant atmosphere in Photograph: Jenny Sterchi the crowded stands when they reached the final. When the two Swiss got off to a fulminant start and won the first set 6:1, the audience’s enthusiasm was clearly audible. The second set was decided in a tiebreak (7:6) and also went in favour of Marc-Andrea Hüsler and Dominic Stricker.

BASED ON AVS/JENNY STERCHI