First Hurdle Cleared

LIVE: A Thriller in the 5th Set! Ofner Serves for the Win

The 30-year-old Styrian Sebastian Ofner advanced to the second round at Wimbledon.(Bild: GEPA)

First round at the world’s most famous tennis tournament: Austria’s No. 1, Sebastian Ofner, defeated Serbian Hamad Medjedovic in his Wimbledon opener. On Monday, the Styrian came back from a 1-2 set deficit and prevailed in the fifth set. 

The 30-year-old Styrian defeated the Serbian, who is eight years his junior, in 2 hours and 53 minutes with scores of 1-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and 6-4.

Ofner remained patient throughout the match, in which “wild card” Medjedovic delivered an inconsistent performance. “Just stay in it. I knew he’s a player who can play at an inhuman level, but who can also lose quickly,” said Austria’s current No. 1 after the match. He added: “I didn’t play that well in the first set, but I knew I’d find my rhythm. At times he played incredibly well, and at times I played really well. In the fifth set, I served really well.”

The match actually featured a dominant player in each of the five sets. Ofner got off to a slow start; he probably had to adjust to the grass surface in his first match on it this season. When the ÖTV Davis Cup player—and currently the only Austrian ranked anywhere near the top 100 (110th)— fell behind 1-2 in sets after 108 minutes and immediately lost his serve in the opening game of the fourth set, it looked like he was headed for defeat.

But Ofner immediately broke back against the current No. 68 in the ATP rankings and broke the serve of his talented but inconsistent opponent to take a 4–2 lead. After 2 hours and 22 minutes, Ofner forced a fifth set by winning the fourth set to love.

Ofner remained calm in the deciding set
Ofner was impressive on serve, firing a total of 30 aces. After breaking to make it 4-3, the Styrian wouldn’t let the victory slip away—and with four aces in a row, he closed out the match at 5-4. Ofner had also faced Medjedovic in the first round last year, but back then he benefited from the Serbian’s retirement when the score was 7–6, 3–1 in the Austrian’s favor.

Ofner reached the third round last year
Ofner, who was eliminated in the third round last year at London’s Church Road, will now face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Hurkacz knocked out 11th-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(7). Ofner has won both of his previous matches against the Pole without dropping a set. However, all of those matches were played on clay. On grass, Hurkacz is considered the stronger player, though he has had a season marked by many early-round losses so far.