VIENNA, October 22, 2017
Four qualifiers advanced to the singles main draw of the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna on Sunday, highlighted by local favourite Dennis Novak.
The 24-year-old wild card entry fought past Thomas Fabbiano of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Novak won 73 per cent of his first service points and broke his opponent three times to prevail after one hour and 50 minutes. The Austrian will clash with third seed Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria in the first round.
Guillermo Garcia-López came back from a set down to overcome Sergiy Stakhovsky from the Ukraine 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. The Spanish veteran finished the encounter in one hour and 48 minutes. Garcia-López will play against seventh favourite Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Argentine Guido Pella beat Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2 to meet the tournament’s number four Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain, and Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert edged past Italy’s Simone Bolelli 7-6, 6-2 to challenge Aussie Bernard Tomic in the opening round of the main draw.