Rodionov wins Austrian duel in French Open qualifier against Novak

24.05.2023

Misolic fails to Italians

Jurij Rodionov can still hope for a place in the main field of the Tennis French Open 2023. The Lower Austrian defeated his closest compatriot Dennis Novak 2:6.6:3.6:4 in the second qualifying round for the clay court classic in Paris on Wednesday.

Ofner from Styria beat Brit Jan Choinski 3:6.6:4.6:0. Filip Misolic missed his Grand Slam debut for the time being after a 4:6,1:6 defeat against Andrea Vavassori from Italy. Novak, who can currently be found at 163 in the ranking, got off to a good start in the ÖTV internal duel and immediately took over the service from Rodionov (134). The 29-year-old later added a break and took the first set after 38 minutes. The second round started with both sides losing serve before 24-year-old Rodionov broke his compatriot to make it 5:3 and then served it to equalize.

The left-hander took the momentum into the deciding set, where he managed the crucial break to make it 3-2 in the fifth game. Rodionov then no longer let Novak put him under pressure and used his first match point after a good two hours. He is still missing a win for his second French Open participation, and he has to beat the former top ten player Lucas Pouille from France.

Ofner made a false start to his game, Choinski handed a break to win the first set. The 27-year-old from Styria then improved and equalized before marching away in the third set and using his third match point to make it 6-0. The opponent in the fight for the major ticket is now the Argentinian Facundo Diaz Acosta. The 21-year-old Styrian Misolic hardly got access to the game against Vavassori and could not dispute the service of the 28-year-old Italian. After 1:19 hours of play, the Roland Garros adventure came to an end for the 142nd in the world rankings for this year. From an Austrian point of view, Dominic Thiem and Julia Grabher have been part of the second major of the year.