STARNBERG/TULLN, August 26, 2021
The ATP Challenger Tour will return to Austria next month for the inaugural NÖ Open powered by EVN. The clay-court tournament with a total prize money of €101,798 will be held from September 5 to 11 at the venue of the TC Tulln.
The historic town Tulln an der Donau is situated in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, in the centre of the Tulln Basin stretching to the Vienna Woods in the south, about 40 kilometres northwest of the country’s capital Vienna. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln with about 18,000 inhabitants is often referred to as Blumenstadt (“City of Flowers”).
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Four Top 100 players
The ATP Challenger 100 is organized by Vienna based company Champs Event GmbH. Florian Leitgeb, son of Ronnie Leitgeb, is the tournament director and is looking forward to a stunning entry list led by four Top 100 players.
World No. 64 Jaume Munar is projected to be the top seed. The 24-year-old Spaniard will compete in his first ATP Challenger event since early April when he reached the final on home soil at the Andalucia Open in Marbella. Munar is seeking his seventh career title and will be joined by World No. 80 Marco Cecchinato of Italy, World No. 89 Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic and 93rd-ranked Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
In-form Daniel Altmaier, who captured his second Challenger crown at the Sauerland Open in Lüdenscheid last week, will lead a strong German contingent. Veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber, Yannick Hanfmann, Oscar Otte and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe are also expected to play in Tulln.
Dennis Novak and Sebastian Ofner will represent the local favourites. World No. 125 Novak, who recently became a father to son Konstantin, has skipped the US Open to support his live-in partner Ingela in their home town Klosterneuburg.
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Further players to watch include Danish teen sensation Holger Rune, who already lifted three ATP Challenger trophies this season and is sitting at a career-high ranking of World No. 145, as well as 19-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka, champion at the Tampere Open in Finland this year.
“I am really pleased that we can present such a strong and exciting field to tennis fans at the inaugural NÖ Open powered by EVN. A lot of extremely strong players from Europe, overseas and also from Austria, who now want to get to the top of the ranking, will be part of the line-up,” Florian Leitgeb said.
The 32-man field will be completed by wild card entrants as well as four qualifiers. Main draw ceremony is taking place at the Festsaal Tulln on Saturday, September 4.
Tulln Entry List
Jaume Munar 64
Marco Cecchinato 80
Jiri Vesely 89
Thiago Monteiro 93
Daniel Altmaier 106
Taro Daniel 109
Tallon Griekspoor 110
Kamil Majchrzak 115
Philipp Kohlschreiber 116
Damir Dzumhur 120
Jozef Kovalik 121
Dennis Novak 125
Hugo Gaston 127
Yannick Hanfmann 134
Oscar Otte 144
Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune 145
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 158
Sebastian Ofner 166
Marc-Andrea Huesler 170
Mohamed Safwat 176
Jiri Lehecka 192
Filip Horansky 194
Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves 201
