French Open
Sebastian Ofner gave domestic tennis fans a successful start at the French Open. The 27-year-old Styrian took the momentum from the qualification and won the main competition against the American Maxime Cressy 6:4 7:6 (8/6) 6:2. In the second round, Ofner has to deal with either Sebastian Korda or Mackenzie McDonald and thus again with a US player.
After the three successful qualifying rounds, Ofner faced a high hurdle with Cressy in the first round of Roland Garros, but not an insurmountable one. The 26-year-old, who was born in Paris, is 42nd in the world rankings and thus 76 places ahead of the Austrian, but has lost in round one of all four clay court tournaments this season.
Accordingly, Ofner approached the first duel with Cressy with optimism. “I believe I can win a round or two here,” said Ofner confidently before the game. He surprisingly managed this feat in 2017 from qualifying in Wimbledon when he was only eliminated in the third round. By the way, back then against the German Alexander Zverev as well as a year ago here at the French Open in the first round.
Ofner handed an early break to make it 2-1 to win the first set after almost 45 minutes. The second round then developed into an exchange of blows. After a quick break and rebreak, the Austrian Cressy took the serve to make it 6:5, but then missed closing the sack on his own serve. Ofner also made it exciting in the tie-break, initially giving up a 4-0 lead, only to use the second set ball after almost two hours. In the third round, Ofner got two breaks to make it 2-0 and 6-2 to secure entry into the second round.
Rodionov as “Lucky Loser”.
Jurij Rodionov is the second Austrian to take part in the action in Paris on Sunday. The Lower Austrian slipped into the main competition as a “lucky loser” after losing the third qualifying round against Frenchman Lucas Pouille. The Lower Austrian meets Pouille again on Sunday (fourth match after 11 a.m.) in the first round in Paris and wants to take his second chance.
Dominic Thiem starts his tenth French Open in Paris on Whit Monday. The two-time Paris finalist from Lichtenwörth will face Argentinian Pedro Cachin in the first round. In the women’s category, Grabher meets the Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus. The 32-year-old Rus is currently 113th in the ranking, so the woman from Vorarlberg is the favorite in the game. However, the previous three encounters were all a prey for the experienced Dutchwoman.
French Open in Paris
(France, Grand Slam tournament, €49.6m, clay)