Successful start for three German-speaking players at the ATP-Challenger in Bratislava: Jurij Rodionov and Sebastian Ofner from Austria won as well as the German Matthias Bachinger.
Rodionov was the most exciting: After losing his first set in the second set, the left-hander fended off eight break chances, including two match points, and defeated Uladzimir Ignatik from Belarus after 2:02 hours with 2:6, 7:6 (1) and 7:6 (6).
Sebastian Ofner did not harm the Italian Andrea Arnaboldi. The Wimbledon surprise man of 2017 put the dramatic loss of the first set well away, finally winning 6-7 (11), 6-3 and 6-4.
Matthias Bachinger had comparatively little drama to offer: The German won against Lukas Klein from Slovakia with 6:4 and 7:6 (6).
Ofner will meet in round two Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Rodionov, who had entered the main peloton in Bratislava after qualifying, waiting for the winner of the match between Jürgen Zopp and Evgeny Donskoy. Matthias Bachinger plays against the Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Johannes Härteis, on the other hand, has been eliminated. The qualifier lost to routine Lukas Rosol smoothly in two sets.
Here the single tableau in Bratislava