2024-04-17 19:03:36
The Styrian Sebastian Ofner lost to number five seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 4:6.5:7 in the second round of the ATP 500 tennis tournament in Barcelona on Wednesday. The Monte Carlo title holder from the previous week faced a great Ofner in the second set and lost the round, but saved himself by winning four games in a row after a total of 1:37 hours. Rafael Nadal also lost against Alex de Minaur (AUS).
Ofner offered the audience a lot of entertainment immediately after Nadal’s last appearance on the “Pista Nadal”, he produced more winners and fewer unforced errors than his opponent. However, it wasn’t even enough for a third set. Right at the start, Ofner responded to Tsitsipas’ starting offensive with a rebreak, but Austria’s number one had nothing to counter the Hellenic’s 4:3 in the opening half.
In the second set, the favorite seemed to be clearly on the road to victory after taking Ofner’s service game to take a 3-2 lead. But again the immediate counterattack followed, and Ofner even went on to win two more games to make it 5:3. Instead of being left out to equalize the set, the world number 42 had to. acknowledge his counterpart’s catching up. Tsitsipas was ordered to the baseline again from the way to the shake hand due to a close out decision, but he closed the sack in the same game.
Previously, Nadal, a twelve-time winner of the event, was defeated by Alex de Minaur 5:7,1:6, making him the first Australian to win on clay against Nadal. He, in turn, has returned from another injury break of more than three months in the Catalan metropolis. He was then given a standing ovation by the fans. “This means a lot to me,” said Nadal. “Because a week ago I didn’t know whether I could even play here. So at least I had the chance to say goodbye on the court.”
With his opening win on Tuesday in what was probably his last appearance in Barcelona against the Italian Flavio Cobolli alone, Nadal gained well over 100 places and will appear just outside the top 500 in the world rankings. The Iberian needs a top 400 place by June 10th to secure his Olympic ticket. This is based on a new rule that favors two winners of Grand Slam tournaments. Dominic Thiem also seems to be hoping for this pass at the moment, but “just” a major title might not be enough for him.
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