Australian Open: Dennis Novak reaches Grand Slam Main Field for the first time

Dennis Novak is for the first time in his career in the main competition of a Grand Slam. In the third round of qualifying for the Australian Open he won against Japan’s Go Soeda.

Novak, who went into the match as an underdog, only had a short break at the end of the first set when he lost four games in a row after a 4-2 lead.

The disappointment of the lost first leg was not noticeable to Novak. With breaks to 1:0 and 4:1 he quickly secured the second set. The 24-year-old then took the momentum into the third set and finished the game after one hour and 55 minutes to a 4-6,6-2,6-2,6-2 win.

This is Novak’s fourth attempt to qualify for a major, and he moves into the main field of the Happy Slam. The Wiener Neustädter will not be drawn to his first-round opponent until all other matches in the qualification have been played. Due to heavy rain, some matches had to be cancelled on Saturday and postponed to Sunday.

With the qualification of Novak there are four Austrian men in Melbourne. Dominic Thiem is seeded at number five, while Gerald Melzer is ranked as world number-102. benefited from some injury-related cancellations.

In Down Under, Andreas Haider-Maurer uses the Protected Ranking, which he is entitled to after his injury break. Most recently, four men from Austria competed in a Grand Slam main event in Wimbledon 2009. Sebastian Ofner dropped out of Melbourne in the first qualifying round.