Ofner qualified for the French Open – Rodionov in luck

Sebastian Ofner also cleared the third qualifying hurdle in Paris, defeating Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 7-5, 6-3 in 91 minutes. And Jurij Rodionov can also unexpectedly serve at the second major tournament of the year, the Lower Austrian was lucky and came into the main draw as one of three lucky losers.

Ofner, number 14 in qualifying, laid the foundation for success when he turned over a 0:3 or 1:4 deficit. The Styrian was there for the 21st time in a major elimination, the 27-year-old has now made it for the third time: The third round in 2017 in Wimbledon was outstanding after five victories en suite. In addition, he was in the main competition in Paris for the first time last year, but was eliminated immediately.

His first round opponent in Paris is now the American Maxime Cressy. The 26-year-old, who was born in Paris, is 42nd in the world rankings, 76 places ahead of Ofner. The two have not yet played against each other on the ATP tour. In the event of a win, Ofner would again face a US player, either Mackenzie McDonald or Sebastian Korda.

Rodionov, meanwhile, gets an opportunity for revenge in the first round at Roland Garros as he meets local hero Lucas Pouille again. The 24-year-old lost 6:1.5:7.0:6 against the Frenchman, who was five years his senior, in the third qualifying round on Thursday. Should the ÖTV player win, the winner of the duel between number 14 seeded Cameron Norrie and Benoit Paire from France would be waiting in round two.

As we reported, Grabher meets the women’s qualifier Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands. The 32-year-old Rus is currently 113th in the ranking, so the woman from Vorarlberg is the favorite in the game. However, the previous three encounters were all a prey for the experienced Dutchwoman.