Vienna – Erste Bank Open: Haas finding form in Vienna

Written by: Global Chick on 26th October 2011

Vienna – Erste Bank Open: Haas finding form in Vienna

Tommy Haas of Germany hits a return to Juan Monaco of Argentina during their third round match on the sixth day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 03 September 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT |

Vienna – Erste Bank Open

Number five seed Juan Ignacio Chela lost to former Top 10 player Tommy Haas of Germany in the first round of Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Qualifier Haas came back from a set down to take out the Argentine in three sets. “Coming through the qualifying helped me to pull of that match today,” Haas said. The German added, “It is indoor tennis, it’s a little faster, but I’m playing some good players and especially the win over Chela is going to give me some confidence hopefully for the next couple of months to come and I’m just going to keep building from here.”

The 2008 Vienna Champion Philipp Petzschner of Germany destroyed Spain’s Pablo Andujar 6-2 6-2 in one hour. Petzschner will now meet with the number two seed Juan Martin Del Potro.

It was the match between the young and the old. Veteran Austrian wildcard Thomas Muster took on teenager Austrian wildcard Dominic Thiem on Tuesday in the first round. Muster who had announced that this tournament was going to be his last one on the ATP Tour said after the match, “He’s done very well. He came out firing and played very well. He’s an upcoming player from Austria. He’s very young and ambitious, all the best to him.”

The former world number one was very emotional after his loss yesterday. “At the beginning I didn’t know if to cry or to play. It’s really hard to start a match like that. You get standing ovations when you win, when you play a great match or win a tournament but not in the first round and certainly not like that.”

Tommy Robredo had to retire against the number four seed Fabio Fognini in the third set due to a leg injury. The Italian will now play against 10sballs.com’s favourite player Xavier Malisse who flattened Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-1 6-4.

First round doubles results – Tuesday

[2] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) d E Butorac (USA) / J Rojer (AHO) 63 63 [WC]

A Haider-Maurer (AUT) / P Oswald (AUT) d P Andujar (ESP) / G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 61 76(6)

SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 26 OCTOBER, 2011  CENTRE COURT start 2:00 pm

P Petzschner (GER) vs [2] J Del Potro (ARG)

[Q] S Darcis (BEL) vs [7] N Davydenko (RUS)

[6] K Anderson (RSA) vs M Baghdatis (CYP)

Not Before 7:00 PM

J Del Potro (ARG) / R Stepanek (CZE) vs [3] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER)

COURT B start 1:00 pm

M Melo (BRA) / B Soares (BRA) vs R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK)

[4] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs J Chela (ARG) / A Sa (BRA)