Dennis Novak wins the Austrian duel against his compatriot Sebastian Ofner! In the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger in Bratislava, the 25-year-old won 6-1, 1-6 and 6-3.
Novak started furiously into the game and took his opponent’s serve quickly to 2-0 thanks to a double mistake. With another weak service game at 3:0, Ofner was already following a double break after only ten minutes playing time.
The 22-year-old was also unable to make up for this deficit. Novak won the first round 6:1. Especially the serve had left Ofner in the lurch at the beginning of the match.
This sheet turned in the second movement. Novak had a double mistake at breakball against himself and had to watch his compatriot take the lead 3:0. Shortly afterwards “Falco 2.0” led with a double break.
Ofner sent the game a little later into the third set – with a forehand winner he took the second set with 6:1. At this point, not even 40 minutes had been played.
At the beginning of the decisive run, Ofner fended off a break point. But the Styrian had to give up his serve in two games – Novak took the lead 4:1.
The 154th in the world rankings could no longer be deprived of this lead. After 0:30 back sand he served up to win against his good friend. Novak will now play against the Czech Lukas Rosol in the semi-final.
The tableau in Bratislava