Fognini, Thiem, Lopez, Haas move into second round – Erste Bank Open 2011
The 2011 Erste Bank Open, which is currently in progress at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, saw a few interesting matches on Tuesday, October 25, 2011.
In singles competitions, Tommy Robredo (Spain) faced Fabio Fognini (Italy) but forced to retire due a leg injury he sustained during the match. The match was a heavily contested affair with the first two set scores reading at 6-7, 7-5. In the third set, however, both the players were moving head-to-head when Robredo retired, hence giving the victory to Fognini. The match ended with scores of 6-7, 7-5, 1-2.
World ranked 182, Daniel Brands (Germany) played against world ranked 213, Martin Fischer (Austria) in an evenly contested match with final scores of 7-6, 2-6, 6-7.
In another match, Thomas Muster (Austria) battled against compatriot Dominic Thiem. Both were consistent in their serves as they delivered five aces each. Muster could not keep his momentum with Thiem’s straight-set victory of 6-2, 6-3. Forty-four year old Muster was making his ATP comeback in the 2011 Erste Open but his injury halted his return and he was compelled to forfeit the match, giving the win to the 18-year old Thiem, who was the obvious crowd favourite.
Wild-card entry Muster had already announced his retirement and the 2011 Erste Open was his last tournament. His injury gave him an early exit from the tournament as he bows out from the world of tennis with 44 title wins including the 1995 French Open title, which was his first and only Grand Slam win.
James Blake (America), who has been going well in the season-end championships, looked wobbly against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain). The 31-year old Blake, ranking at number 60 in the world, lost to Lopez 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Lopez was able to break former world number 4 Blake’s serves at five occasions and prevailed in the end against the American.
Tommy Hass (Germany) produced ten aces against number five seed Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) as he won the match 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5). Hass, ranked at 273 in the world, winner of the 2001 Erste Bank Open, saved three out of six break points while Chela could only save one out of the two opportunities he got.
Aljaz Bedene (Slovakia) also had to retire from the match with an injury while playing against Ivo Karlovic (Croatia). The first set ended with 6-7 but the match could not enter into the second set as the 32-year old, world number 54 Karlovic retired from the game. Bedene won the match 6-7 and cruised into the second round. In the last match played on the opening day of the tournament, Pablo Andujar (Spain) took on Philipp Petzschner (Germany). The German won the match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, giving no room to Spaniard Andujar to take the lead in any of the two sets.
In the doubles category, Andreas Haider-Maurer (Austria) and compatriot Philipp Oswald won their match against the Spanish pair of Pablo Andujar Alba and Guillermo Garcia Lopez, 6-1, 6-7 (8). In the other doubles first round match, Max Mirnyi (Belarus) teamed up with Daniel Mark Nestor (Canada) and won their match in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, against Eric Butorac (America) and Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands).
Tags: