Not a good start for the German-speaking players at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Vienna: After the Austrian Jurij Rodionov had no chance against Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Matthias Bachinger was also eliminated from the qualification competition.
By Jens Huiber from the Wiener Stadthalle
Tobias Summerer helps where he can. Yesterday the coach of the TennisBase Oberhaching was at the start in Stockholm, Philipp Kohlschreiber failed because of Stefanos Tsitsipas. The long-standing German number one will also serve in Vienna, naturally in the main field, which will start operations on Monday.
Summerer, however, took the early flight from the Swedish capital to the Austrian one, after all the qualification match by Matthias Bachinger had been scheduled as the second of the day on the Center Court. After that of Jurij Rodionov against Pierre-Hugues Herbert, which the Frenchman won 6:1 and 6:2.
Good and deserved for Rodionov, who this year jumped about 300 places in the ATP world rankings, that he received a wild card from the organizer for the qualification. But with Herbert, the left-hander was given the maximum penalty, a man who is on position 51 in the ATP charts, most recently in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Shenzhen and the Challenger in Ortisei.
It was clear after a few minutes that the Frenchman would win this game, but in the middle of the second set Rodionov almost had to laugh: The 19-year-old Austrian performed a serve-and-volley variant cleanly, Herbert did not let himself be lumpen, passed the astonished Rodionov from the run with the forehand.
At 12:09 sharp Jurij Rodionov’s first appearance at the Vienna Stadthalle was history.
Matthias Bachinger’s prospects were not much better, even though the German had reached the final of an ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the first time in Metz a few weeks ago. Denis Kudla, on the other hand, had tortured Dominic Thiem in the Australian Open, forcing him into the fifth set, and is clearly ahead of Matthias Bachinger in the ATP charts.
Anyone who hasn’t seen Bachinger for some time is amazed at how flat the German plays his backhand over the net. But what didn’t bother Kudla, the US player hit when it was important: in the tiebreak of the first set. Bachinger countered, equalled, but had to accept an early break in the decision. This gave Kudla 7:6 (3), 4:6, 6:3.
For Bachinger the tournament in Vienna is already over, Tobias Summerer still has a few days ahead of him. However, his protégé Philipp Kohlschreiber did not draw a Traimlos either: It’s round one against defending champion Lucas Pouille.
Here the single tableau in Vienna
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