Australian Open: Out of the dream: Qualifying for Ofner, Novak continues to fight each other

The qualification for the Australian Open is in full swing and there are good and bad news from Melbourne. Sebastian Ofner had to admit defeat in the first qualifying round, while his colleague Dennis Novak is still allowed to dream.

It is well known that shared suffering is half suffering. This will be of little use to Sebastian Ofner in this situation. The young Austrian had to bury his dream of participating in the Australian Open at an early age.

In the first round of qualifying, he lost out to French veteran Stéphane Robert. The 21-year-old had every chance of winning. Especially in the first round, a few minor mistakes made by Ofner were fatal. In a tight set Robert put his experience to good use and took the lead with 7:6 (5).

However, Ofner did not get up and kept fighting. After a 3-1 defeat and a break, Ofner fought his way back and took the serve from his opponent to 4-5 and then served as a counterbalance. In the decisive last game the youngster’s nerves fluttered and Robert took his chance to break. In the end the experience won with 7:6 (5) and 7:5 and Ofner has to start his journey home earlier than he had hoped.

Nevertheless, there is good news for the Austrian fans. Dennis Novak is in the second round of the qualifying round and thus preserves the chance of the main draw. However, Novak had to work hard against the world’s 210 number. Ilya Ivashka acted aggressively and put a lot of pressure on the man from Wiener Neustadt. However, Novak stood up to this and took the lead with 6:4 and a set.

Ivashka did not let herself be deterred by this, remained true to his line and secured the equalization of the movements. In the decisive round, both players gave each other nothing and the decision was made in the tiebreak. Novak served well and kept his nerves. After the match point there was a 6-4,4-6 and 7-6 (5) win for Novak on the scoreboard.