MAUTHAUSEN/STARNBERG, May 5, 2022
Lucas Miedler has reached his first quarterfinal on the ATP Challenger Tour since Alicante in October last year. The World No. 301 defeated Nino Serdarusic of Croatia 7-6(4), 6-2 in Thursday’s second round at the DANUBE Upper Austria Open in Mauthausen.
Miedler, a winner of 10 singles titles on the ITF Pro Circuit, has recently been more successful in doubles. The 25-year-old lifted five Challenger trophies and celebrated his maiden triumph on the ATP Tour in Kitzbühel alongside Alexander Erler in the past three years. Here on home soil, Miedler battled through the qualifying of the singles competition with wins over Johannes Haerteis of Germany and Benjamin Hassan from Lebanon followed by a first-round main draw victory against ninth-seeded Belarusian Egor Gerasimov. The Tulln native sent down seven aces and won 88 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 48 minutes.
“It’s getting better every day and I feel really comfortable here. I’m actually better on hard court, but the fast conditions on the court really suit me,” said Miedler, who will next take on his compatriot Dennis Novak. The No. 8 seed benefited from the retirement of local wild card entry Gerald Melzer. Melzer was forced to stop playing before the start of the third set due to an ankle injury.
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Later in the afternoon, the tournament’s top-ranked player John Millman defeated Frenchman Enzo Couacaud. The World No. 85 from Australia capitalized on six of his eight break-point chances to succeed after one hour and 52 minutes.
Millman will next face Hungarian qualifier Mate Valkusz, who edged past No. 7 seed Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-3. The encounter lasted one hour and 49 minutes.
