The bundesliga player from BW neuss left no stone unturned, winning safely 6:2, 6:3 against austrian dominic thiem and will meet wild card holder nils langer on tuesday afternoon. There is another german-german duel before this match: franconian tennis talent kevin krawietz (former junior doubles winner at wimbledon) will face dominik meffert (ca. 13.30 p.M.).
One may move up
luck after his 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 loss to compatriot andis juska had the no. 1 of the seedings at the "pre-tournament": ernest gulbis moves up as a "lucky loser" into the main draw after ivan dodig, who stunned pundits at last week’s tournament in valencia by making it to the semifinals, canceled because of a back injury. He survived the 1,800-kilometer journey to franconia, but was unable to make it to the final. But after the grueling week of the tournament, his body wouldn’t allow for a corner stint. The croatian surged 43 ATP spots after his wins over kohlschreiber, hewitt and cilic.
In this form, he would have been a real challenger for the top quartet from eckental, grega zemlja (top seed on world ranking 50), last year’s winner rajeev ram, davis cup player philipp petzschner and daniel brands. So ernest gulbis, who already triumphed in eckental years ago, completes together with the two russian "quali-kravchuk and vatutin win the field of 32 players.
Two czech players set the first scent marks on monday afternoon: while jan mertl saved himself with a thrilling tiebreak (10:8) against the canadian erik chvojka in two sets to win, his compatriot jan hernych made it much more exciting. After losing the first set, he was up to his neck in the second and even had to fend off match points before he could see land again. 10:8 in the tiebreak!
This set equalizer inspired him so much that the slovak martin had no answer at all and hernych was unstoppable: 6:0 for hernych in the final set, the czech dictated the action on the center court at will.
While philipp petzschner still has some time to go with his first assignment – he won’t play until wednesday – no. 1 of the tournament, grega zemlja, show their colors on tuesday and prove his class against wild-card holder elias ymer of sweden, who took him to the final in vienna (against del potro) two weeks ago.
A mammoth program awaits tennis fans on the second day of the tournament on tuesday: nine singles and three doubles will be played starting at 11 a.M.
Qualifying tournament finals: stefan seifert – dominic thiem (austria) 6:2, 6:3; konstantin kravchuk (russia) – maximilian abel 6:3, 6:4; andis juska (latvia) – ernest gulbis (latvia) 3:6, 6:3, 6:4; alexey valtutin – philipp oswald (austria) 6:2, 3:6, 6:4
main draw, 1. Round: jan hernych (czech republic) – andrej martin (slovakia) 4:6, 7:6 (8), 6:0; jan mertl (czech republic) – erik chvojka (canada) 6:4, 7:6 (8); matteo viola (italy) – frank dancevic (canada) 5:0 abandonment