MEERBUSCH, August 19, 2017
Andreas Haider-Maurer has returned to the final of the €43,000 Bucher Reisen Tennis Grand Prix, held at the venue of the GWR Büderich in Meerbusch. The champion of 2015, who entered the main draw with a wild card, fought past Karim-Mohamed Maamoun of Egypt 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
The 30-year-old Austrian fired nine aces, winning 70 per cent of his first service points to prevail after two hours and 24 minutes. Haider-Maurer missed the entire 2016 season due to injury and will appear in his first ATP Challenger final since lifting the trophy here in Germany.
“This has been my best tournament since my comeback,” Haider-Maurer was pleased. “It is really good to see that I can still beat such good players. Winning matches here give me a lot of confidence.”
Haider-Maurer will take on Ricardo Ojeda-Lara, who stopped the great run of fellow Spaniard and Braunschweig Challenger champion Nicola Kuhn. The 24-year-old from Valencia beat his seven years younger opponent 6-4, 7-6. Ojeda-Lara gained two breaks and won one point more than Kuhn to finish the encounter after one hour and 47 minutes.
Later in the afternoon, Kuhn announced via twitter his withdrawal from the ATP Challenger event in Manerbio next week, where he should play Italian Andrea Pellegrino in the opening round.
— Nicola Kuhn (@NicolaKuhn1) 19. August 2017
Haider-Maurer and Ojeda-Lara will meet for the first time. The singles final is going to start at 1 pm local time.
Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz
Krawietz/Mies Win Doubles Title
Later in the day, the German combination of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies captured their first team title.
The second seeds defeated Dustin Brown of Germany and Antonio Sancic from Croatia 6-1, 7-6. The final lasted 68 minutes.
