Austrian Jurij Rodionov has dropped out in the quarter-finals of the Challenger tournament in Koahsiung. The 19-year-old lost to the Tunisian Malek Jaziri in three sets.
In the first round, the Austrian could fend off all five break points of his opponent until 4-5. But then Jaziri struck and won the first set 6:4.
In the second section, the world’s number 248 acted more and more safely against the two seeded Tunisians and was even leading with a break until 4:3. Afterwards, however, he must accept the re-break and then serve twice against the loss of the match.
Both times Rodionov managed his serve with a lot of effort, a tiebreak had to bring the decision. Rodionov scored the only minibreak 7:6 in the set and secured the second round shortly thereafter. A third set had to bring the decision.
Jaziri had his first break in the match, but at 3-4 Rodionov returned to the match with a service breakthrough. However, the Tunisian struck back immediately and was able to avoid the match with confidence. With a forehand winner he fixed the 6:4, 6:7 (6) and 6:4 success.
Nevertheless, the tournament in Taiwan was a good one for Rodionov. The Austrian takes home 7,530 US dollars and 45 world ranking points.