Good friends Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak lost 5: 7.7: 6 (1), 5: 10 in the first-round doubles of the Erste Bank Open against Jamie Murray / Neal Skupsky after a good performance on Monday evening. Against the well-rehearsed British they held up in sets one to 5: 5, in the second they managed a rebreak in a phase with ten points in a row and ultimately a sovereign tiebreak. But it wasn’t quite enough in the match tiebreaker. For Novak, the ATP tennis tournament is over.
Besides the local hero appearances by Novak and Jurij Rodionov, three first-round singles were played on the national holiday. Pablo Carreno Busta qualified for a round of 16 duel with Novak defeated Kevin Anderson, the Spaniard benefited from the French Gael Monfils (7) surrender due to neck problems with a 6: 2.2: 0 lead. Andrej Rublew (RUS-5) 6: 3,6: 2 against Norbert Gombos (SVK-Q) and Borna Coric (CRO) 6: 4,6: 4 against Taylor Fritz (USA) had no problems.
Thiem continues in the individual on Tuesday, but his opponent Kei Nishikori withdrew his nomination because of a damage to his right shoulder. The Japanese won’t play again this year. Lucky Loser Vitaly Sachko (also Satschko) lost in the second qualifying round and is at his career high of 453 in the world rankings. It will be the 23-year-old’s first match on the tour.
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