Victory After Nerve-Wracking Battle! Neumayer in Tulln Quarterfinals

Lukas Neumayer defeats Argentine Juan Manuel La Serna in the Tulln round of 16 with scores of 7:5, 6:7 (9), 6:1

The Salzburger thus advances to the quarterfinals in front of a home crowd as the last Austrian left in the tournament.

The match against defensive specialist La Serna was characterized by breaks early on. With the score at 5:4 and Neumayer serving, the local favourite had two set points. However, he squandered them and even lost the game. But the re-break followed immediately, and one game later Neumayer converted his fourth set point to take the set 7:5.

Battle of Nerves in the Second Set.

In the second set, Neumayer once again made a good impression and often tried his luck with drop shots on the slow court in Tulln. However, the fighting performance of the Argentine world No. 289 in the ATP rankings made life quite difficult for the Salzburger.

The course of the second set was a replica of the first. Neumayer served for the match at 5:4 and suffered a re-break.

It went into a tie-break, in which there were a string of set and match points on both sides. From a score of 5:4, ten return points were scored consecutively. Ultimately, La Serna came out on top with an 11:9 score.

Decider is One-Sided

Despite the setback, Neumayer started the third set perfectly. The Salzburger broke the Argentine's serve and soon led 3:0. Afterwards, La Serna received treatment for his left thigh during a medical timeout.

Neumayer kept his nerve, ultimately prevailing 6:1 and converting his third match point, his first in the deciding set, after 2 hours and 56 minutes.

In an ORF interview, the victorious world No. 191 in the ATP rankings summarized: "I think the level was really good – an improvement compared to the first round."

In the quarterfinals, he will face Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva from Brazil (ATP No. 282), with whom he had already trained on Monday.