Ofner lost French Open round of 16 against Tsitsipas

The 27-year-old Styrian had to bow to number five seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas after good resistance in the first set with 5:7.3:6.0:6. For Ofner, however, what remains is a sensational tournament for him, the first advance into the top 100 (around 80th place) and, with 240,000 euros, his biggest prize money check to date.

Including qualifying, Ofner had spent 13:21 hours on the pitch up to the round of 16. On Sunday, the combination of these exertions with world-class man Tsitsipas was too much. The protégé of Wolfgang Thiem and touring coach Stefan Rettl was ultimately far from being the first qualifier since Marcello Filippini in 1999 to play in the Paris quarter-finals.

Ofner got off to an excellent start and used the Greek’s initial uncertainty to break the opening game. Ofner took the lead 2:0 and 3:1, but then had to give up the serve to make it 3:3. In the seventh game, Ofner had a breakball after a double fault from Tsitsipas, which he could not use. At 4: 5 Ofner fended off three set balls and made it 5: 5, at 5: 6 Tsitsipas used his fourth set ball to break and win the set after 50 minutes.

In the second round, Tsitsipas managed the first break to make it 4: 2. That was already the decision in favor of the favorite and two-time major finalist. After just 27 minutes, the second set was over and Ofner was on the losing side.

Right at the beginning of set three, Ofner had to give up the serve again to make it 0:1. This finally set the course for an outright defeat, and Tsitsipas was unstoppable. Ofner didn’t even manage another game, Tsitsipas used the third match ball. It was the third defeat in the third duel with a top ten player for Ofner (previously twice against Alexander Zverev/GER).

Tsitsipas presented himself strongly and was unstoppable on the way to his seventh major quarterfinals (the third in Roland Garros), while Ofner was visibly running out of breath. Tsitsipas now meets top favorite Carlos Alcaraz from Spain in the quarterfinals. In this match he will be the underdog.