Dennis Novak retired at the Generali Open 2018 in Kitzbühel. The Lower Austrian lost to Dusan Lajovic in two sets in Kitzbühel.
By Jens Huiber from Kitzbühel
If Dennis Novak could make a wish for his matches, the choice would certainly not fall on the external circumstances that prevailed during his match in the Round of 16 against Dusan Lajovic in the Generali Open 2018: dry heat. Not because Novak could not handle high temperatures from his fitness point of view. Rather, the contact lenses of the Lower Austrian dry out quickly, Novak has to play some balls almost blind.
After all: The light-shadow game, which Novak had still irritated Yuri Rodionov, did not come to bear against Dusan Lajovic. In the end, it was simply the Serbian’s larger class that brought Lajovic into the last eight in Kitzbühel. The favourite prevailed after 68 minutes with 6:2 and 6:4.
The match started very unfavourably for Novak: Lajovic took off the Austrian Davis Cup player’s first service game and took a 3-0 lead. The first act lasted only 26 minutes, Novak lacked the length to really endanger Lajovic.
Besides Günter Bresnik, Wolfgang Thiem, who works with Novak in Vienna’s Südstadt, took a seat in the 24-year-old’s caretaker box. The two coaches saw an improved Dennis Novak at the beginning of set two, but he could not take a break chance to 2-1.
In the ninth game Novak got another chance, Lajovic defended offensively – at 4:5 and 15:40 from Novak’s point of view, however, the underdog showed strong nerves for the time being, Lajovic scored the third match point. The Serb could face Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.
“It was simply a bad performance,” Novak did not keep his disappointment out of the way. Lajovic would play well at the front, he himself had not found a recipe as a recoil.
In doubles, Novak is still represented alongside Dominic Thiem. The two mates will meet Philipp Petzschner and Jürgen Melzer in the quarter-finals on Thursday. With reservation: Petzschner injured his thigh in the first-round match against Carballes Baena/Munar. Whether the free Wednesday was enough for regeneration remains to be seen.
Here the single tableau in Kitzbühel