Sparkasse Challenger - Val Gardena Südtirol

22. – 29. Oktober 2023

Azzurri say goodbye: The final in Gardena-Gröden is called Klein vs. Gojo

Final on Sunday at 11 a.m.

The No. 7 seed Lukas Klein of Slovakia and Borna Gojo of Croatia will play the final at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol scheduled for Sunday at 11 am. Klein won his semi-final against Andrea Vavassori 7-6 (5), 6-4, then Gojo defeated Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-1 in a one-sided match in just 45 minutes.

Klein, number 163 in the world ranking, reached the final of a challenger for the third time this year. Tomorrow he wants to win his third title after Troisdorf and Alicante. The match against Vavassori was dominated by his serve. There was not a single break point in the first set, the respondents won only ten points until 6:6. In the tie-break, Klein got the mini-break of 6-5 with a wonderful backhand pass and then closed the set. Also in the second partial, the serving players allowed little. Vavassori gave up the decisive break in the second set on 3:3 after leading 30:0. Klein only gave up ten points on his own serve in the entire match and was naturally satisfied: "I saw Vavassori's match against Machac yesterday.

Andrea serves really well. I knew that I had to stay focused on my serve and not give him many chances". On the possible third title of the season, Klein says: "I don't look at the numbers. I want to play well, play my game and if I win I am happy."

Gojo in the second semi-final continued his triumphant march this week and left no chance for his blue opponent, four years younger than him. He made five breaks on six break points and scored ten aces. Cobolli could do nothing against the 24-year-old from Split. Gojo is in a Challenger final for the second time this year. In February he lost the final in Bengaluru in India. Tomorrow he will try to win his first title. "It was a really good match for me. I tried to be aggressive and made almost no mistakes," Gojo said after the match. "These conditions suit me." On Klein, he said: "I know him very well, we are the same age and in the last few months he has played very well and I have also seen some of his matches. We will see tomorrow how it will go." The two have not yet faced each other in official matches on the tour.

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