French Open 2024

French Open: Ofner against Atmane today LIVE

Sebastian Ofner progressed after a drama.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

What a feat of strength! Sebastian Ofner made it into the second round of the French Open after a heroic fight. The Austrian was already trailing 0:2 in sets against Terence Atmane, 2:4 in the third round, but turned the match around! He was not even put off by a minor scandal. After 3:35 hours, Ofi won 3:6, 4:6, 7:6 (2), 6:2, 7:5 - and let his emotions run free. "That was my biggest victory," he cheered.

It seemed to be a day to forget for Ofner. The Styrian had to wait a long time after a thunderstorm before his match against local hero Atmane got underway at 8.15 p.m. on a different court to the one originally planned, in gusty winds and rather unusually cool conditions for the French Open. 

Unusual racket throw
Ofner didn't get into the match at all at first, lost his serve at 1-3 and was unable to return. After 29 minutes, Atmane took set one 6:3 and things didn't get any better in the second round either. After the 28-year-old surrendered his serve twice in a row, trailing 1:4, the usually calm Ofner even bounced his racket on the floor once. 

But this actually seemed to wake him up. Ofner had his best phase of the match, cheered himself on and actually managed two re-breaks in a row! Now it was Atmane, whose nerves were on edge, who threw his racket on the ground more violently than Ofner before. But the Austrian was unable to capitalize on this. He lost the next two games and thus the set 4:6 - a psychologically difficult blow.

After another break at the start of the third set, Ofner seemed to be beaten, but Ofner was able to overcome that too! He put up a brilliant fight to save himself in the tie-break, which he won confidently 7:2. That naturally gave him a boost. Ofner was suddenly the dominant player and raced into a 4:1 lead with a double break. 

Atmane shot Frau down - and was allowed to continue playing
Then came the big upset. Atmane kicked a ball away and hit a spectator on the knee. According to the rules, this should have resulted in a disqualification. The referee questioned his assistants, as well as the lady in the stands. He had the head referee called onto the pitch, who repeated the procedure. Naturally, the French fans did not want the game to be stopped. "Let them play!" they chanted loudly. Perhaps it was this pressure, plus the confirmation from the lady that she was not in pain, but the head referee actually allowed play to continue. A very questionable, problematic decision that had never been made before in such a situation. 

The Austrian couldn't understand it either. "He hit the ball away uncontrollably at 200 km/h," he said angrily after the match. "People have been disqualified for much less than that. At a Challenger, you get penalized for little things and nothing happens here at the biggest tournament in the world." It was all the more impressive that Ofi did not allow himself to be put off and continued where he had been interrupted, taking the fourth set 6:2. 

The fifth set then turned into a real thriller. Ofner was ahead by an early break, but gave it back to 2:2. Both ran, fought and delivered some thrilling rallies. In the end, Ofi turned around a 0:2 set deficit for only the second time in his career (the first time had been in qualifying for Wimbledon 2017) and celebrated the victory late.

But all the more profusely. The relief was written all over Ofner's face during the interview after midnight. "I've never experienced such a crazy match. This is certainly my greatest victory."