Sebastian Ofner after a thriller against Fognini in the French Open round of 16

Sebastian Ofner after a thriller against Fognini in the French Open round of 16

Sebastian Ofner
Image: GEPA pictures/ Francois Asal

In the third round of the French Open, the Styrian defeated the Italian Fabio Fognini in an almost four-hour thriller 5: 7.6: 3.7: 5.1: 6.6: 4 and is in the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The 27-year-old meets either Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, number five, or Argentinian Diego Schwartzmann.

The ÖTV player already has 240,000 euros in prize money and 180 points for the ATP ranking. As a result, he will move up from 118th place in the new ranking to around 80th place and thus appear just ahead of Austria’s figurehead Dominic Thiem. Ofner has already surpassed his previous career highlight – the third round at Wimbledon 2017. He has not yet managed to win a tournament on the ATP tour, but this season he had shown his skills at a lower tournament level several times with four Challenger final appearances in Tenerife, Antalya, Zadar and Prague.

Now he also succeeded in the big sand highlight of the year. After three victories in the qualification, the Styrian threw after the American Maxime Cressy (6:4.7:6/6.6:2) and his compatriot Sebastian Korda (6:3.7:6/1 ),6:4) on Friday Fognini out of the competition. And rightly so. In front of his parents, Ofner was the more consistent player throughout the game and didn’t let himself be thrown off course by a slump in the fourth set.

Ofner was the more active player against the Italian veteran, who was concerned about safety, but fell 3-1 behind in the first set with a service game lost to zero. The right-hander from Bruck an der Mur hit back and took a 4:3 lead with two breaks. At 4: 4, Fognini was also seen in a not unusual role when he engaged in discussions with the Greek referee. Both players struggled to serve through after that. Fognini finally got the first round after 58 minutes.

After a medical break by Fognini, Ofner started the second set with a break, but immediately conceded the rebreak. Coach Wolfgang Thiem’s ​​protégé managed not to let the antics of the 36-year-old Fognini – as planned – noticeably lose his concentration. He gradually reduced his unforced errors and took his chances more patiently. The Styrian took a 4:2 lead and finally won the second set 6:3.

In the third set, both players had difficulties with the service. In the end, three to two breaks were the decisive factor for Ofner, who in the meantime had made life difficult for himself with two careless mistakes when the score was 3:3. Ofner converted his third set ball to 7:5. The ball bounced off the edge of the net and Fognini threw the racket away in exasperation. But that didn’t break his resistance. On the contrary: With five games in a row, the set was easy prey for the Italian, Ofner’s break to 1: 5 was the only result.

In the deciding set, Ofner started with a break, Fognini complained to the referee about a fan. After a rebreak by the Italian, who was number seven in the world in 2015, the Austrian again took the serve from his opponent to 3: 2 and 5: 2. His hand still shook when he was served, but after 3:54 hours he was able to raise his hands in the air and let himself fall to the ground with relief.

Sam Weissborn and his partner Romain Arneodo from Monaco lost in doubles against the Germans Kevin Krawietz/Tim Pütz with 4:6,2:6.

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