His opponent Terence Admane not only failed to win but also missed the disqualification.
Sebastian Offner returned to his sensational first Grand Slam round of 16 last year with a strange opening win. The 28-year-old won his first-round match under floodlights at the French Open in Paris on Sunday evening with a 2-0 lead in the main draw. Styrian (ATP 45) defeated French wild card holder Terence Atman (ATP 120) 3:6, 4:6, 7:6 (2), 6:2, 7:5 after a 3:35-hour fight. knees. This means that after the Wimbledon qualifying final in 2017 (against British local player J Alexander Clarke), for the second time in his career, he was able to walk off the court as a winner from 2-0 down. In the third clash between the two, his opponent not only missed out on his second win, but also missed out on a disqualification for hitting a spectator with the ball in frustration in the fourth set.
With this, he secured 50 of the 205 ATP points he won last year. The protégé of Wolfgang Thiem’s ATC Academy will look to earn another 50 points on Wednesday against 20th-ranked Argentine Sebastian Baez (ATP 20) or Brazilian qualifier Gustavo Heide (ATP 174). On Monday, from a red-white-red perspective, it will be Filip Mizolik’s turn first in the third match on Court 4 after 11:00 a.m. However, the 22-year-old has provided a new opponent after qualifying for a Grand Slam for the first time. Australian Christopher O’Connell (ATP 68) canceled at short notice due to a shoulder problem, and Styrian (ATP 243) will instead meet the luckless Otto Virtanen (ATP 156). In his last appearance at Roland Garros, the Finn eliminated ÖTV figurehead Dominic Thiem in the second round of qualifying.
Standing with my back to the wall
For a long time, Ofner was not on track to reach the second round of a Grand Slam for the fourth time in his career and the second time in the French capital, Paris. St. Mariner had to accept the only break chance in the first set, which was eventually 1:3, and he quickly found himself with a double break at 1:4 in the second set. He hit it at 4:4 with an intermediate spurt, dropping his serve again at this point to concede the set at 0:2. And in the third round, Offner also ran after a break from the start. With his back against the wall already, he recorded three games in a row from 2:4 and 30:40 on his own serve, at times giving Athmane several chances to win. A well-played tiebreak eventually won him the first set – and proved the turning point in a tough encounter. He quickly went up 4-0 in the fourth round.
Things were now running like clockwork at Ofner, while mistakes – and frustrations – piled up at Atman. In one of these, at 4:1 and 30:30, with Offner serving, after the rally ended, he angrily threw a ball into the middle of the spectator stands on Court 12, hitting a spectator in the knee. But despite minutes of arguing with the victim and Offner, the chair umpire and supervisor called surprisingly did not disqualify the French host. Atman himself had to apologize to the girl. Offner had the perfect response on court, taking the fourth set and breaking early in the fifth to make it 2-1. He couldn’t hold on to this lead and after a missed break on both sides, only two points separated him from elimination at 4:5 and 30:30, but in the end he again converted the serve from Adam to 6:5 and saved his nerves while serving. Three minutes before midnight – play started late after a rain break and on a different pitch than planned – Ofner celebrated freely with his first match point.
