Sebastian Ofner has won the Challenger tournament in Astana. Austria’s Davis Cup player defeated Daniel Brands (Deggendorf) in the final 7:6 (7:5), 6:3 and crowned his winning streak in Kazakhstan.
After 1:37 hours, Ofner turned his first match point on the Indoor Centre Court and received $18,000 in prize money and 100 valuable ranking points. He will climb to 151th place in the ATP classification. The 22-year-old from Bruck an der Mur is thus gaining momentum before his home tournament in Kitzbühel (from 30 July).
The week in Astana was also a success for the unset brand (ATP No. 252), which has already improved over 200 world ranking places since its comeback after a long injury break five months ago. The 31-year-old collected $10,600 and 60 points.
The game was extremely competitive. Especially in the absence of break chances, the fourth seeded Ofner, who entered the third round at Wimbledon a good year ago and took part in the semi-finals in Kitzbühel, and Brands did not take any notice.
The most painful thing for the experienced player – already number 51 in the world rankings in August 2013 – were the two break balls at 6:5, which were also set balls at the same time. But Ofner saved himself in the tiebreak. Not least because of his good serve (13 aces), which ignited especially in critical situations.
At 5-5 in the tiebreak the Styrian kept his nerve on the Hardcourt and won the first round after 66 minutes with two points in a row. As a result, it was the 1.96-metre slaks Brands who made the first break of the match for 3-2. Ofner was not shocked and took the service off the Deggendorf man immediately afterwards. After that, Ofner doesn’t play any more.