Resurgent Rodionov fights for a place in the main competition

Yuri Rodionov is back on track after an eight-match losing streak. The 25-year-old has moved into the third and final round of qualifying for the US Open in New York on Wednesday night after CEST. The Austrian (ATP 201) also defeated 20th seed Chun-Hsien Tseng of Taiwan (ATP 115) in the second round after a 1:54 hour battle 6:4, 7:6 (5). This means the red-white-red left-hander can follow ÖTV teammates Sebastian Ofner, Dominic Thiem (Wildcard) and Julia Graber (Private Ranking) into the main draw of the Grand Slam scene at Flushing Meadows. Rodionov will now play on Thursday at 5:00 pm CEST against Kyrian Jacquet (ATP 209), this year’s finalist at the ATP 125 Challenger in Salzburg, for a place in the main 128 grid. The Frenchman narrowly beat South Korea’s Seung-Chan Hong (ATP 154) 4:6, 6:3, 7:5 after defending a match point. The main draw will also take place at 6:00 pm CEST.

“I felt great on court for the first time in a few weeks/months,” Rodionov said after his opening 6:4, 6:2 win over the former world No. 26 Serbian on Monday (local time). Filip Krajinovic (ATP 634) reported with relief on his official Facebook page. And that positive feeling probably continued in his second appearance. Although Tseng started the match better with a 2-0 lead, including a match ball to make it 3-0, Rodionov responded immediately as a receiver and scored again in the ninth game of the first set to close out the match. In the second round, the Austrian Davis Cup player was usually closer to the break, wasting three chances in the first game, but at 4:5 and 30:40 he suddenly faced a set point. However, Gilbert Schaller’s former pro pro pupil managed to block that and broke to 6:5 in the next game, but he was unable to get sidelined after that. In the tiebreak he got a better finish and used his second match point. In his third appearance in the Big Apple after 2021 and the opening defeat in 2023, Rodionov reached the qualifying final for the second time and can once again hope to make his main draw debut.