The first two wildcards for next week’s ATP 500 tournament in the Wiener Stadthalle were awarded to the Austrians Jurij Rodionov and Filip Misolic on Thursday. A third is still open. Rodionov surprised at the Erste Bank Open two years ago with a first win against Denis Shapovalov. Kitzbühel sensational finalist Misolic, on the other hand, gives its Vienna premiere.
“I’m really happy that I can play in front of my home fans again. That is always an additional motivation for me. Getting this wildcard means a lot to me,” said 21-year-old Misolic.
Rodionov hopes for another surprise
Rodionov, who is two years his senior, is looking for another surprise in the strong field of participants with Dominic Thiem, Andrej Rublew (RUS) and Taylor Fritz (USA). “I start with good memories and will do everything to sell myself as best I can,” said Rodionov, currently Austria’s best as number 128 in the world.
The main competition draw for the 2.5 million euro tournament will take place on Saturday at the Heumarkt. On Friday, Misolic and some of the stars of the tournament will be performing at a tie-break mini-tournament on the ice-skating club’s premises.