Davis Cup: Oberleitner/Miedler Put Austria Back in Front

After Jurij Rodionov's opening victory and Lukas Neumayer's subsequent defeat, Neil Oberleitner and Lucas Miedler put Austria 2:1 in front with a triumph in the Davis Cup against Belgium.

The duo won their doubles match against Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7:6 (5), 7:5, taking an important step towards the "Final 8" in Bologna.

Hard-fought Set

The Austrians started strong in the first game of the day. They secured the first game without dropping a point. After Oberleitner/Miedler missed a break point opportunity, the Belgians then equalized.

The duel remained hard-fought and balanced in front of numerous home fans at the Wiener Prater, with both teams holding their serves. With technically strong points, the red-white-red athletes managed to pull ahead to 5:4, but their opponents equalized once again.

Tie-Break Decision

Subsequently, the Belgians got a break point opportunity, which was saved after a ball went out, restoring the lead.

After Gille/Vliegen leveled the score at 6:6, the first set was decided in a tie-break. The Austrians fought their way back after being down 2:4 and took the lead for the first time in the decider at 5:4. Their nerves held. After 58 minutes, Oberleitner/Miedler secured the hard-fought first set 7:6 (5).

Late Decision in Set Two

The Belgians didn't give up and started the second set with their serve. Austria initially struggled with returns, allowing the Belgians to quickly pull away on their opponents' service. At 2:2, the duo was already down 0:40 on the opponent's serve, leveled the score, but then had to concede the game to make it 2:3.

The game remained balanced until 5:5. Oberleitner and Miedler finally achieved the first break of the match with their fourth opportunity. This put them up 6:5, secured the first set lead, and they ultimately held their service game.

Thus, the red-white-red duo won the third duel against Belgium after 1:53 hours and put Austria back in a 2:1 lead.

The singles match between Rodionov and Bergs followed (in the LIVE ticker >>>).