ATP Challenger: Dennis Novak unexpectedly defeats Johannes Härteis in Ismaning

Dennis Novak has lost the Austrian-German duel with Johannes Härteis. Novak lost to the left-hander at the ATP-Challenger-Tournament in Ismaning with 6:0, 6:7 (5) and 5:7.

Last week Dennis Novak had served in Ortisei, where he had only failed in the semi-final against Pierre-Hugues Herbert. In Ismaning, the 25-year-old from Lower Austria was fully concentrated right from the start and took just over 20 minutes to win round one 6-0.

In the second set, Härteis, who usually plays future tournaments (and had recently reached the semi-finals in Falun), held his own better, especially as a serve. And in the tiebreak Novak allowed himself too many mistakes, which also made his racket suffer. Härteis led with 5:2 and 6:3, Novak held his lead in the set – but after 65 minutes the Austrian could not play back his opponent’s serve.

The decision was made in the eleventh game of the third set. Novak had no problems as a serve until then, missed break chances as well. Härteis made it better, took the service of his opponent and after 1:46 hours secured his promotion to the second round.

In the round of sixteen Johannes Härteis will meet the Slovak qualifier Lukas Klein. The latter had defeated the Austrian Alexander Erler in two sets.

The field in Ismaning is led by Lorenzo Sonego ahead of Ugo Humbert and Marco Trungelliti.

Here is the single tableau in Ismaning