Dragos Nicolae Madaras is out on his debut in Båstad

Competitor Van Assche already broke into the world’s top 100 as a teenager and is already playing in Grand Slam tournaments.

For Swedish schools, this breakthrough has been long overdue, but now it may be on its way. Last fall, he made his debut on the ATP Tour in Bulgaria – and this year he reached 14 ITF (formerly Future) finals and won 10 titles. The ITF is the third level, after the ATP and ATP Challenger.

The 25-year-old has moved up the world rankings and is now ranked 191st, just 25 places behind Elias Ymer.

“Even the match all the way”

In the second ATP tournament of his career, the competition was extremely tough.

In a tight match, it was Van Assche who won the first set in a tiebreak and then the second, 6-4.

– It was a very difficult match for me. Madaras played well from start to finish, so it was a close game all the way through, he said after the win.

Madaras himself was somewhat disappointed after the match.

– It was difficult, he is a good player. On paper, he was a better player than me if you compare the rankings. “I played very poorly in important situations,” he told SVT Sport.

Luca Van Assche now faces Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16. Elias Ymer and Leo Borg are the two remaining Swedes in the singles tournament. They will meet each other on Tuesday.