Stadthalle sensation
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Brandon Nakashima caused a surprise on Wednesday at the Tennis Erste Bank Open in the Wiener Stadthalle. The US-American defeated his compatriot Tommy Paul, seeded number four, 6:4, 6:4.
The world number twelve had only celebrated his third ATP season tournament win in Stockholm last week and had arrived with a lot of self-confidence. The early exit was a setback in the battle for a place in the ATP Finals for the top eight players.
In contrast, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, ranked third, lived up to his role as favorite at the start. The ninth-ranked player defeated China's Zhang Zhizhen 6:4, 7:5 and will face Tomas Machac in the round of 16 on Thursday. In the first singles match of the day at the second tournament venue, the Heumarkt, the Czech defeated Hungary's Fabian Marozsan 7:6(5),6:1. Russia's Karen Khachanov also advanced thanks to a 6:2,6:4 win over Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild. His next opponent is Nakashima.
The latter started the match with a break. At 2:4, Paul was just able to prevent another loss of serve from his point of view and also fend off a set point at 3:5. The favorite was powerless to stop his opponent's service and Nakashima served out the set to 6:4. In the second round, another break was decisive, this time to make it 4:3. In the final game, Nakashima was 15:40 down on his own serve, but was able to hit back with four points in a row and win the match on his first match point.
The 23-year-old world number 38's debut in the Stadthalle thus ended in victory. Paul had recently not dropped a set in the 250 event in Stockholm on his way to winning the tournament. He is currently ranked eleventh in the race of the best players of the year. Dimitrov is immediately ahead of him in tenth place. The 33-year-old also conceded a break against Zhang at the start. A rebreak to 3:3 and another game win on the Chinese player's service to make it 6:4 turned the match around.
Both players were strong on serve in the second set before Dimitrov managed a break at 7:5. After the second match point and 1:38 hours, he was through to the round of 16. Last year, he failed to reach the last 16, but his best result in Vienna, including seven appearances this year, was the semi-finals in 2022. Should he get there, a strong run would continue, as he has reached at least the semi-finals in every indoor event he has played in 2024.
Erste Bank Open VIENNA (ATP-500, 2.626 million euros, hard)
1st round:
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL-3) - Zhang Zhizhen (CHN) 6:4,7:5
Brandon Nakashima (USA) - Tommy Paul (USA-4) 6:4,6:4
Tomas Machac (CZE) - Fabian Marozsan (HUN) 7:6(5),6:1
Karen Khachanov (RUS) - Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA) 6:2,6:4
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