With a qualifying defeat at the ATP 250 event in Metz, but coming directly and without preparation from the Davis Cup against Pakistan in Tulln, and with a knockout round at the ATP 125 Challenger in Orléans, the last tournaments for Jurij Rodionov were not run as desired. The return to France has been all the more successful for the protégé of Günter Bresnik’s tennis academy (where he has been training under Gary Muller since the end of August): The 23-year-old has entered the ATP 100 hard court challenger in Saint-Tropez reached the first semi-final since the home coup at the ATP 100 Challenger in Mauthausen in May. And that without losing a set: The seventh-placed Lower Austrian (ATP 140) defeated the Kazakhs Mikhail Kukushkin (ATP 224) 6: 3, 7: 5, the Ukrainian Oleksii Krutykh (ATP 246) 7: 6 (5), 6 :2 and this Friday also the Italian Roberto Marcora (ATP 636) with 6:4, 6:3.
“I’m super happy with my performance today,” Rodionov then wrote on his official Facebook fan page. “I was very focused, didn’t allow much and above all I was able to rely on my strong serve. That gave me a lot of security and was the basis for the win.” On Saturday he will fight against another Italian, the qualifier Mattia Bellucci (ATP 275), for the final. In the live ranking he managed to improve to position 128, if he were to win again he would improve on his previous career high of 124th and move up to 120th place. Winning the title would probably be tantamount to jumping into the top 110 for the first time. Austria’s aces in Saint-Tropez can also do this in doubles: Tristan-Samuel Weissborn has already worked his way into the final with Romain Arneodo. The native left-hander and Monegasque, seeded three together, beat Italy-British pairing Marco Bortolotti and Luke Johnson 6-1, 6-3, then French-Swiss combination Geoffrey Blancaneaux and Luca Margaroli 6-3, 6: 2 and then also the second-ranked Treat Conrad Huey (Philippines) and Max Schnur (USA) narrowly with 7: 6 (9), 7: 6 (6). Fourth-seeded local heroes Dan Added and Albano Olivetti await in the title match.
Successful week also for Neuchrist
Maximilian Neuchrist also had a good tournament week. The Viennese recorded a single round of 16 as a qualifier and a double semi-final at the ATP 110 hard court challenger in Seoul. The 31-year-old (ATP 327) only eliminated the Japanese Makoto Ochi (ATP 545) 7: 5, 6: 4 and the third-ranked Serb Hamad Medjedovic (ATP 261) with 7: 6 (4), 7: 6 (2). In the main competition, Neuchrist (ATP 341) also followed up with a 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 over the Australian Marc Polmans (ATP 562). Against the talented, 19-year-old Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki (ATP 407) there was a wafer-thin 4: 6, 6: 2, 4: 6 defeat in the round of 16. In doubles, Neuchrist and Germany’s Maximilian Marterer defeated the South Korean hosts Sehyuk Cho and Jangjun Kim, who had a wildcard, 6-2, 6-3, and the fourth seeded Australians Rinky Hijikata and Li Tu 7-6 (4), 4-6 and 10:3 in the match tiebreak – before the fight for the final against Kaichi Uchida (Japan) and Tung-Lin Wu (Taiwan) was narrowly defeated 4:6, 6:2, 7:10.
Here are all the results of the ATP 100 Challenger in Saint-Tropez.
Here are all the results of the ATP 110 Challenger in Seoul.