Tuesday Italian day in Vienna with 5 Azzurri on the pitch: live from 1pm on TV and on SuperTennix
Tuesday is Italian day at the “Erste Bank Open”, ATP 500 endowed with a prize pool of 1,837,190 euros that is being disputed on the fast indoor Wiener Stadthalle of the Austrian capital. There are in fact five blues on the pitch: for four – Sinner, Sonego, Fognini and Musetti – this is the debut in the tournament, while Berrettini is already busy in the second round (as well as on SuperTennis, all matches can be watched without wasting even a minute on SuperTennix).
Lorenzo Sonego, No. 23 in the ranking, finalist twelve months ago (in a fairytale tournament, played by lucky loser, he overtook Djokovic in the quarterfinals), find on the other side of the net the German Dominik Koepfer, 62 ATP, fished out on the board as lucky loser (in place of Chilean Cristian Garin, 17 ATP, suffering from the shoulder): between the 26 year old from Turin and the 27 year old from Furtwangen there are no precedents.
Jannik Sinner, n.11 ATP (new best ranking) and 7 of seeding, fresh from the triumph in Antwerp (fourth title in 2021) and in full swing for the Nitto ATP Finals (at the moment in the “Race to Turin” he is tenth but in practice ninth sight Nadal’s renunciation), debuts against the American Reilly Opelka, n.27 ATP (unpublished challenge). A sort of “technical tests” of Davis Cup Finals ….
Lorenzo Musetti, n.67 ATP, conferment of a wild card, is contrary to the Frenchman Gael Monfils, No. 21 in the ranking, never faced in his career.
And it didn’t go any better as a draw at Fabio Fognini, 36 of the ranking, which he has to deal immediately with the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, 16 ATP and eighth seeded, finalist in this tournament in the 2019 edition and fresh from the final in Antwerp lost against Sinner: 1-1 the balance of the previous ones, with the 29 year old from Baires who won in three sets right in Vienna, in the first round in 2017.
In the evening Matteo Berrettini also returns to the field, on Monday beating the Australian Alexei Popyrin in the first round, n.77 ATP, passed through the qualifiers, won the pass for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The tennis player coached by coach Vincenzo Santopadre is the first blue to reach the goal twice (he had already succeeded in London 2019).
The 25 year old Roman, n.7 in the world ranking and third favorite in seeding, a place in the quarters is played with the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, 25 ATP: the blue number one won in three of the four previous challenges (all the last three) on the 29-year-old from Tbilisi but this is their first confrontation on the fast indoor.
On Tuesday evening, Gianluca Mager made a bitter debut in the main draw. The 26 year old from Sanremo, 68 ATP, from qualifications, sold 76 (4) 76 (4), in an hour and forty minutes of play, to the Austrian Dennis Novak, 116 of the ranking, in the race thanks to a wild card.
The Ligurian was ahead 2 to 1 in the balance of the previous ones and had also won the last one, played in the first round of the ATP in Kitzbuhel (clay) last July. Mager lost a game in which not only did he never give up but he didn’t even concede breakpoints. Novak instead granted and canceled one in the second game of the first set and two in the eleventh game of the second half. The Austrian, more proactive in the tie-break, has referred 24 winners against 16 free: 14 against 13 the balance of the blue. The service percentages are similar with Novak more effective with the first serve and Mager more incisive with the second: 8 aces and a double foul for the australian, 7 aces and a double foul for the Ligurian who, however, committed it right on the match -point.
The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas governs the seeding: the 23-year-old from Athens, No. 3 in the ranking (who passed a very complicated first round with the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, No. 21 ATP), precedes the German Alexander Zverev, n.4 ATP, the blue Matteo Berrettini, # 7 ATP, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, # 8 ATP, the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, n.10 ATP (eliminated at the debut for 64 67 63 by the British Andy Murray, n.156 of the ranking, in the race with a wild, winner in 2014 and 2016), the Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime, 12 ATP, the other blue Jannik Sinner, n.11 ATP, and the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, n.16 ATP.
Absent the reigning champion, the Russian Andey Rublev (# 6 ATP), who last year won the title by beating Lorenzo Sonego in the final.
SuperTennis, Fit’s TV, follows the ATP 500 in Vienna live and exclusively. This is the programming:
Wednesday 27 October – LIVE at 13.00: SONEGO c. Koepfer
to follow: SINNER c. Opelka
to follow: FOGNINI (ITA) c. Schwartzman
to follow: MUSETTI c. Monfils
not before 5.30 pm: A.Murray c. Alcaraz
to follow: BERRETTINI c. Basilashvili
Thursday 28 October – LIVE at 1.00pm, 2.00pm, 4.00pm, 5.30pm and 7.00pm
Friday 29 October – LIVE at 2.00 pm, 4.00 pm, 5.30 pm and 7.00 pm
Saturday 30 October – LIVE at 2.00 pm and 3.30 pm (semifinals)
Sunday 31 October – LIVE at 2 pm (final); reply at 11.00 pm
RESULTS
“Banca Erste open”
ATP 500
Vienna, Austria
October 25 – 31, 2021
€ 1,837,190 – fast indoor
SINGULAR
First round
(wc) Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) c. Gael Monfils (FRA)
Fabio Fognini (ITA) c. (8) Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) c. (LL) Dominik Koepfer (GER)
(wc) Dennis Novak (AUT) b. (q) Gianluca Mager (ITA) 76 (4) 76 (4)
(7) Janik Sinner (ITA) v. Reilly OPelka (USA)
(3) Matteo Berrettini (ITA) b. (q) Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 76 (3) 63
Second round
(3) Matteo Berrettini (ITA) c. Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)
QUALIFICATIONS
First round
(5) Gianluca Mager (ITA) b. (wc) Alexander Erler (AUT) 67 (2) 62 64
Qualifying round
(5) Gianluca Mager (ITA) b. (4) Dominik Koepfer (GER) 63 36 63
ORDER OF PLAY
SINGULAR
DOUBLE
QUALIFICATIONS