On the second-to-last day of June 2017, 21-year-old Sebastian Ofner sat on the bench out on Court 16 at Roehampton, having just lost the second set of his final qualifying round match against Jay Clarke to go two sets to love down. The young Austrian sporting slicked-back hair that might put most Dracula Halloween costumes to shame was making his slam qualifying debut at that Wimbledon, first battling past Kimmer Coppejans in a 10-8 deciding set and taking out Miljan Zekic to get to this point. Not only had Ofner never been to Wimbledon before, he had never played competitive matches on grass before as he never broke the Top 400 as a Junior. The Austrian persevered and broke through at the ITF level in 2016, winning his first pro title at 20 years old and adding three more before the year was out. In 2017, Ofner broke through at the Challenger level, reaching his first final at the Mestre Challenger just the month prior.
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Ofner’s 2017 Wimbledon Breakout Run
Perseverance was a theme for him and he persevered through that clash with Jay Clarke as well, winning 2-6 6-7(9) 6-4 6-4 6-1 to get to the main draw of Wimbledon, joining fellow qualifiers Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. There, Ofner was rewarded with a good opening round, facing Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Bellucci had won just a single match at Wimbledon since 2010 and just one from his last nine grass matches going in. Ofner’s routine 6-2 6-3 6-2 win would be the Brazilian’s final career match on the surface. The headlines would come after his second-round match where he took out Jack Sock in the midst of his career-best season that would finish with an ATP Finals appearance. Sock had earned decent grass results elsewhere but Wimbledon remained cursed for him, Ofner taking the win 6-3 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-2. The fairytale run ended in the third round for the 21-year-old, losing to 10th seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
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Top 100 Debut On The Line
Now 27, Ofner has enjoyed success throughout the years with three Challenger titles but it has been more sparse than he would have liked with his progress being rather non-linear. Stretches of poor form have kept the Austrian outside of the Top 100 but that milestone is finally within reach at this French Open, just his second slam main draw appearance since that Wimbledon run. Ofner has set himself up very well this season, finally getting deep runs consistently, reaching four Challenger finals this season going into Roland Garros. The 27-year-old qualified by ending the 12-win streak of Facundo Diaz Acosta in the final qualifying round and like in 2017, found himself in one of the best qualifier spots in the draw.
Ofner’s potential opponents in the first two rounds were all winless on clay. The Austrian’s first-round opponent Maxime Cressy has not won a match since February, so the 6-4 7-6(6) 6-2 win was no surprise. The second round had a lot more intrigue as Sebastian Korda has had much better results on clay in the past compared to Cressy, having his own breakout run at the 2020 French Open. Ofner impressed with another straight-set win. The 27-year-old next faces Fabio Fognini, the wily veteran who took out a limited Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jason Kubler in straight sets being judged to be a slight favorite by the bookmakers. Ofner currently sits at No. 96 in the live rankings but could still be overtaken by a number of players before the rankings are released next Monday. A win would place him a 100 points clear of the Top 100 hurdle, securing the debut, and Ofner is certainly capable of it here.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
