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Misolic at Erste Bank Open in Vienna for the First Time in the Round of 16

Filip Misolic bezwang beim Stadthallenturnier Ugo Carabelli.
Filip Misolic bezwang beim Stadthallenturnier Ugo Carabelli. ©APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH
Filip Misolic reached the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna for the first time. The 24-year-old from Styria defeated Camilo Ugo Carabelli from Argentina after 2 hours and 15 minutes with 7:5, 7:6(6). In the next round, he will face Alex de Minaur from Australia, who defeated Jurij Rodionov at the Stadthalle tournament and is ranked number seven in the world.

For Misolic, it was a full circle moment, as he had also celebrated his last match victory in a main draw on the ATP Tour on Austrian soil. That was on July 22 with a 7:5, 5:7, 6:3 win against the Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry in the first round in Kitzbühel. After that, he suffered opening defeats in Winston Salem, Chengdu, and most recently Stockholm. In between, he failed in the first qualifying round at the high-profile events in Tokyo and Shanghai.

Misolic with Dream Start at Erste Bank Open in Vienna

"The switch to hard court was not easy," said Misolic. It was all the more beautiful for him that the breakthrough came at home. "I rank the victory quite high in my career, it is wonderful that I was able to experience it," the top-100 player stated at the press conference. In the winner's interview on the court, he had previously said: "It feels incredible."

Physically, it was a very difficult match. "But with the support of the audience, I felt like I could play another ten sets," said the ÖTV player, who was in the main draw thanks to a wildcard. He tried to stay in the match from point to point and play his best tennis. "All in all, it was a solid performance," Misolic summarized.

He had a dream start in front of the home crowd, already leading 4:0 with a double break after just fifteen minutes. A slight volley error by the ÖTV player paved the way back for Ugo Carabelli. The Argentinian took advantage of the Styrian's uncertainty to level at 4:4. Misolic was then able to fend off a break chance with a remarkable half-volley at 5:5 and laid the foundation to cross the finish line as the winner of the first set. After 1:01 hours, he converted the first set point.

Erste Bank Open: Happy Ending for Misolic in Tiebreak

Set two, in which both sides often relied on the slice again, could have taken a similar course, but Misolic let a 0:40 slip from his hands at 1:0. Both players subsequently held their serve in a hard-fought contest, so the decision had to be made in the tiebreak. There, the world number 95 missed the first match point in the longest rally of the match, but used his second for a happy ending.

This was denied to him in 2022 with a 3:6, 3:6 against the Argentine Francisco Cerundolo and in 2023 after successful qualification with a 6:7(7), 6:4, 3:6 against the Briton Cameron Norrie in Vienna. In the head-to-head with Ugo Carabelli, who is ranked 50th, Misolic improved to 3:1; this year he won on clay in the Bucharest round of 16 and lost in the Bastad quarterfinals.

Misolic Awaits Duel with De Minaur

Not much time to catch a breath. Already on Wednesday (not before 8:15 PM), Misolic will face De Minaur, seeded number three, for the first time in his career. "He plays quite similarly to Ugo and me, but he does it clearly better," said Misolic. Long rallies are to be expected again. "It will be physically demanding again. I have to play more aggressively if I want to leave the court as the winner," Austria's number one announced.

Rodionov lost on Monday against the ten-time ATP tournament winner, who "only" won the title in Washington in 2025, with 4:6, 1:6.

(APA/Red)

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