BRAUNSCHWEIG, July 12, 2019

Tobias Kamke headlined Friday’s semi-final action at the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig. The 33-year-old German stopped the great run of 20-year-old Spaniard Javier Barranco Cosano, who made his first appearance in the stage of the final four at ATP Challenger level.

After a first set with a couple of ups and downs, Kamke set the tone early in the second frame to secure a 7-5, 6-0 victory in one hour and 14 minutes. The World No. 266 capitalized on five of his nine break point chances to reach his first championship match since Lille in March 2018.

Tobias Kamke has reached his first @ATPChallenger final since Lille in March 2018, deafeats @JaviBarranko 7-5, 6-0 in front of his home crowd in Braunschweig. pic.twitter.com/W5jipw30UB

— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) 12. Juli 2019

“The only thing I knew about my opponent today was that he is left-handed,” Kamke told Tennis TourTalk afterwards. “You need some time to find out about his strengths and weaknesses. I managed to do this pretty quickly, gained an early break but missed some chances in the following and he started to find his rhythm. He has a good attitude on the court for his age and made it pretty tough for me. I was happy to win the first set and broke his serve again to close out the second pretty easily.”

Before coming to Braunschweig, Kamke couldn’t win one match on clay this season. “I only played two tournaments on clay, as I had some problems with my hip earlier this season. Last week in Ludwigshafen I didn’t feel comfortable at all and lost in the first round. However, I continued to work hard, as I know that I can still play tennis. I fought hard in the first round here against another local player, which helped me to gain some confidence.”

Kamke was born in Lübeck, located less than a three-hours drive from Braunschweig, and enjoys his home advantage this week. “It’s always great to play in front of your friends and families, which doesn’t happen too often during the season. It’s a great event here. I really enjoy coming back to Braunschweig every year.”

Second semi-final postponed

The local favourite, who finished runner-up to Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci at the Sparkassen Open 2012, will next take on either No. 3 seed Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland or sixth seed Thiago Monteiro of Brazil. Their match was cancelled due to rain and will be played on Sunday at 11 am followed by the doubles and the singles final. Top seeds Simone Bolelli of Italy and Argentine Guillermo Duran will face US-American Nathaniel Lammons from the United States and Antonio Sancic of Croatia for the doubles trophies.

Photo Gallery (by Florian Heer)