There was no happy ending with a Challenger title for Dominic Thiem or Dennis Novak on Sunday. The two Austrians were in the final in Rennes and Szczecin (Stettin). Thiem had no chance against the Frenchman Ugo Humbert in Brittany at the ATP Challenger 90 and lost 3: 6.0: 6 after just 75 minutes. Novak lost the second Austrian-French final on clay against Corentin Moutet much narrower after 2:26 hours with 2:6.7:6(5),4:6.
Thiem fell 1: 3 behind in the first duel with Humbert after a loss of service. As a result, the Lichtenwörther missed three rebreak chances to make it 2:3 and two to make it 3:4 and had to give up the first set 3:6. After that, the air seemed to be out of the former world number three, Thiem no longer played a game.
Thiem has now improved to 182 in the ATP ranking and will stay in France next week. At the Moselle Open in Metz, Thiem, who once again uses a protected ranking from his injury, meets another Frenchman, namely the veteran Richard Gasquet. If he prevails, he will face number two seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. The Russian Daniil Medvedev is the top seed. ÖTV Davis Cup player Jurij Rodionov, who scored the fourth and last point against Pakistan in Tulln on Saturday, was eliminated in the first qualifying round. He lost to Gregoire Barrere (FRA) 4:6,7:6(4),2:6.
For Novak, who will soon be a father for the second time, the trip to Poland to the ATP Challenger 125 brought in 75 ATP points and 10,770 euros in prize money (gross). He improved by 25 places in the ATP ranking and is now 111th as the best Austrian.
The live ticker from the final in Rennes, presented by tennisnet.com:
Source: Nachrichten
