ATP Cup: Dennis Novak fights Guido Pella
Dennis Novak won his first match at the ATP Cup in Sydney. Austria's number two defeated Guido Pella after a strong comeback with 0: 6, 6: 4 and 6: 4. In the second match Dominic Thiem meets Diego Schwartzman .
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Jan 06, 2020, 10:16 am
From the point of view of Dennis Novak, the start of the game against Guido Pella could hardly have been a more unfortunate one: 40:15 led the Austrian in his first service game, 40: 0 even in his second. The Argentinian left-hander got the break both times. And finally to 6-0 after only 28 minutes played.
Both players had to go over three sets at the start of the ATP Cup, but Novak seemed even more severely affected by the consequences of the marathon against Marin Cilic on Monday. Pella, on the other hand, who had won in his first match against Kamil Machjrzak, dictated most of the rallies with his forehand and kept driving Novak out of the field. Novak, however, slowly worked his way into the game and became more offensive. And earned his first breakball in the fifth game of set two - and used it with a backhand longline shot.
Thiem vs. Schwartzman
At 4: 3, Novak fended off three breakballs, the game lasted more than ten minutes. The Austrian took the momentum with him, managed to equalize the set. And did not let up in the decision at first. Now it was mostly Novak, who set the tone with the forehand, and started to hit the spot more and more with the backhand. And seemed to be getting fitter as the match progressed. In the fifth game Novak had a break chance, his forehand ball just missed the line. The next opportunity came a few minutes later, again Pella refused. Novak was now the better player - and actually made the break to 5: 4. And served safely for victory.
With this success and the associated 65 points, Novak is likely to be among the top 100 players in the world for the first time. A prospect that had preoccupied the Austrian before meeting Marin Cilic, as Novak frankly admitted in the on-court interview. Just like the fact that Thomas Muster read the Levites after the first sentence in the changing room. With success.
In the second match Dominic Thiem can now win Austria. Number four in the world meets Diego Schwartzman, against whom he won five out of seven games, most recently in the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The game is available in our live ticker .