2023-10-05 15:14:16
Austria’s number one wrestles Juan Pablo Varillas Patino-Samudio in two tight sets in China.
After reaching his second ATP semifinal last week at the ATP 250 event in Astana, Sebastian Ofner’s strong form has continued at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The ÖTV ace achieved his first success at an ATP Masters 1000 event in a tiebreak thriller in the Chinese metropolis on Thursday. The Styrian (ATP 49) defeated the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas Patino-Samudio (ATP 65) 7:6 (3), 7:6 (6), following almost 2:06 hours of play. Ofner can now look forward to a first showdown on Saturday with the American Tommy Paul, number twelve on the seeding list and also in the world. With the 25 ATP points he has conquered, he is already in position 46 in the live world rankings. Another victory would bring him another 20 points and an improvement to position 42. It was previously announced that he would be at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna a wildcard for the main draw will be received.
With his successes in Astana, Ofner made it into the top 50 in the world for the first time in 49th place. In Shanghai he is playing only his second ATP Masters 1000 tournament in his career, following Madrid this May, where he was eliminated in the second and final round of qualification. On his second attempt he achieved his first victory at this level in a main field. When the score was 4:5 in the first set, he was able to fend off a set point with strong nerves. In the second round, the protégé from Wolfgang Thiem’s ATC Academy, who is supervised on site by Stefan Rettl, had to win following the break to 5:3, which was followed by the rebreak to 5:4, or a superior 6:1 lead Tiebreak tremble once more. Ofner then earned his fifth match point, which he was able to use this time. This also allowed him to take revenge on Varillas Patino-Samudio for the defeat in the only duel between the two so far at the French Open in Paris 2021, where he lost in the first qualifying round 7:6 (10), 5:7, 3:6 had.
On Friday (from 6:30 a.m. CEST) Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler will also make their Shanghai debut. The ÖTV Davis Cup double meets the French Ugo Humbert and Astana singles winner Adrian Mannarino in the first round.
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