By Field Level Media
Oct 26 (Field Level Media) – No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia stormed back from down a set and a break to defeat the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in opening- round action at the Erste Bank Open on Monday in Vienna, Austria.
The 10th-ranked player in the world, de Minaur avoided an upset that could have dashed his hopes of qualifying for the eight-man Nitto ATP Finals at season’s end. Down 4-2 in the second set, he rattled off the last four games to take momentum and broke Machac’s serve three times in the deciding set.
Czech eighth seed Jakub Mensik cruised past Austria’s Lukas Neumayer 6-2, 6-2 in 63 minutes, while Learner Tien defeated France’s Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-1. Italians Matteo Berrettini and Luciano Darderi advanced in straight sets, and Great Britain’s Arthur Fery was up 5-1 when countryman Jacob Fearnley retired.
Swiss Indoors Basel
No. 9 seed Casper Ruud outlasted Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round in Basel, Switzerland.
Stricker finished with a 13-12 edge in aces, more winners (37-29) and fewer unforced errors (18-26) but could not break Ruud’s serve across the final two sets.
German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier staved off Argentine qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4. Denmark’s Holger Rune absorbed 32 aces by France’s Quentin Halys and eked out a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) victory, while Portugal’s Nuno Borges and Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot won in straight sets.
(–Field Level Media)
