KARLSRUHE, August 17, 2018

Four seeded players will appear in the semi-finals of the Karlsruhe Open, the 12th ITF Futures event of the season held on German soil.

Tim Heger

Unranked 18-year-old German Tim Heger almost caused the upset of the week at the Tennis Club Karlsruher ETV 1911, winning the opening set in the tie-break against top seed and World No. 341 Ivan Gakhov of Russia.

The local favourite had played a very competitive first set before the momentum abruptly swung to Gakhov’s side of the court. The left-hander from Moscow struck eight aces and broke his opponent five times to secure a 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 victory in two hours and 12 minutes.

Next up for Gakhov will be third seed Thomas Statzberger. The 25-year-old Austrian eased past Alejo Vilaro from Argentina 6-0, 6-3. The encounter lasted exactly one hour of play.

Paul Wörner emerged victorious from the all-German affair with Dominik Böhler 7-5, 6-1. The No. 5 seed capitalized on five of his nine break point chances to advance in one hour and 31 minutes. Wörner will play seventh favourite Dan Added of France, who beat Aleksandre Metreveli of Georgia 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 19 minutes.