Heide returns with victory in challenger in Austria

Mauthausen (Austria) – In his first match since winning the title in Asunción, in March, Gustavo Heide from São Paulo debuted with victory in the Mauthausen challenger, on Austrian clay. The only Brazilian in the main draw, this Tuesday he beat Frenchman Arthur Gea, who came from qualifying, with scores of 6/3, 1/6 and 6/3 in 2h09 of the match.

This was Heide’s ninth victory in the last ten games played. In addition to his achievement on Paraguayan soil, he also made the semifinals in the challenger in Santiago the previous week. In total, he now has ten triumphs in 13 matches in this category in 2024.

The 22-year-old player, who also defended Brazil in the Davis Cup in February and will compete in the Roland Garros qualifiers at the end of May, was sidelined from competition last month due to medical problems. He currently occupies 182nd place in the ranking, eight below his personal best, achieved in April. With another victory in Mauthausen, he should surpass that mark.

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To do so, Heide will have to face the Slovakian Jozef Kovalik, number 160 in the world and sixth main favorite of the tournament, who passed the first round with a 6/0 and 7/6 (7-0) victory against the Lithuanian Vilius Gaubas, only 285th in the ranking. The duel will be unprecedented on the professional circuit.

Brazilian starts well, but gets scared

Without any major difficulties, Gustavo Heide started the game with great dominance in the service games and did not allow a single chance to break. With that, he took the opportunity to put pressure on his opponent and converted one of the four break-points in his favor.

After wasting two more opening break opportunities in the second half, the Brazilian had his first low moment in the game and his serve was surpassed twice, in the second and sixth games. Gea took advantage of the advantage very well and took the decision to the decisive set.

The third part started tensely, with an exchange of breaks right at the beginning, but Heide got the definitive advantage after a lot of struggle in a very tough game, in which he needed six break-points to overcome the Frenchman’s serve. Afterwards, the Brazilian still needed to save three breaks in the seventh game before closing the game in the ninth.