TULLN, September 7, 2022

Dutch qualifier Jelle Sels headlined Wednesday’s second-round action at the NÖ Open powered by EVN by knocking out World No. 78 and top seed Federico Coria of Argentina 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.

The 27-year-old from Woerden sent down five aces and won 64 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and 32 minutes. Sels, a four time singles champion on the ITF World Tennis Tour, is still seeking his first triumph on the ATP Challenger Circuit. The World No. 255 will next take on Italian youngster Giulio Zeppieri, who defeated German qualifier Elmar Ejupovic 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes.

Norbert Gombos remains the highest-ranked player left in the singles draw of the €90,280 clay-court event in Tulln an der Donau. The No. 3 seed from Slovakia defeated Gianluca Mager of Italy 6-4, 7-5 in 78 minutes and will next face Sebastian Ofner, who emerged victorious from the all-Austrian affair with wild card entry Lucas Miedler, winning 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and seven minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw, Elias Ymer beat Portuguese veteran Pedro Sousa 6-3, 6-2. The fourth favourite from Sweden broke his opponent’s serve four times to succeed after one hour and 12 minutes. Up next for Ymer will be Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein, who rallied past Felipe Meligeni Alves of Brazil 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes.

Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia and sixth-seeded Austrian Jurij Rodionov round out the quarter-finalists in Lower Austria. The latter beat German qualifier Julian Lenz 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 24 minutes.

“Every shot worked a few percent better today than on Tuesday. I’ve also got used to the Center Court and maybe that’s why I felt more agile than in the first match,” said Rodionov.