Two Austrians are in the quarterfinals in Kitzbühel. In addition to the winner of the ÖTV duel Dominic Thiem against Sebastian Ofner (in progress), the only 20-year-old Filip Misolic surprisingly played his way into this phase. The ATP Tour debutant from Graz defeated the 36-year-old Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6: 4.6: 0 and once again showed his great potential. With Misolic, a real hope for the future of ÖTV in Kitz has presented itself.
“The two best days of my life”
“In any case, the day before yesterday and today are the two best days of my life,” said the shy Misolic. “I played my game the whole match: aggressive, good stops and played the backhand longline again and again,” said Misolic, who had previously thanked the thousands of fans in the stadium for their support. He was only nervous at the beginning, he said.
And in the second set, number 98 in the world had no chance at all against number 205. “In the second set I played very well from start to finish, he always helped me a bit with double faults, but I took advantage of it straight away.”
Of course, the home stage is also cheap for the Styrian. “With the help of such an audience, it gives you so much strength. I’m so happy to be in the quarter-finals now.”
In his second match at ATP Tour level, Misolic showed great maturity and toughness. After a break and rebreak, the Styrian managed to take the serve away from the Spaniard to make it 4:2. Andujar hit back again to make it 4:5, but after 63 minutes the fifth break of the first set was Misolic’s 6:4.
In the second set, Misolic almost got into a frenzy, showed sensational stops, and with two breaks to make it 2-0 and 4-0, nobody doubted the youngster’s victory.
Misolic, who incidentally, like Roger Federer and Felix Auger-Aliassime, has his birthday on August 8th, will be at least in a position around 175 with this success from Monday. He has already halved his ranking since the beginning of the year (354th). In the fight for the semi-finals, he now meets either Aslan Karazew (RUS-4) or Dusan Lajovic (SRB). It will be the fourth match after 11am on Thursday.
Previously, however, Jurij Rodionov had lost against the number 3 in the tournament and number 20 in the world, Roberto Bautista Agut, with 1: 6, 4: 6 in 79 minutes.
In the second set, however, Austria’s current number one in the ATP ranking at least had the opportunity to extend the game. At 4:5 he missed his only breakball of the game, after which his opponent served out. “Since the break in the second set I started to play really well, but against a player like Bautista Agut it’s not enough if you start playing well from an hour,” said Rodionov. In the ranking, the Lower Austrian will improve to a position of 136.
In the second set he felt on par with the Spaniard. “But I slept through the first sentence and a half.”
The big goal of finally cracking the top 100 had to be postponed. “Of course I’m a bit annoyed, but that’s my responsibility,” said Rodionov when asked that his potential should have been in the top 100 for a long time. Rodionov has yet to pack his bags for Liberec, his next appearance next week, as he is in the quarter-finals in doubles with Neil Oberleitner, a nephew of tournament boss Alexander Antonitsch.
After Kitz, Rodionov still has sand challenges on the program with Liberec and Meerbusch, followed by a hard court challenger in Poland before qualifying at the US Open.
Source: Nachrichten
