STARNBERG, October 23, 2020
The fantastic run of Germany’s Timo Stodder has come to a close Thursday afternoon at the $25,000 Future Nord, held at the at the venue of the Hamburg Tennis Association. The World No. 1,056 lost in the quarterfinals of the ITF M25 World Tennis event to No. 3 seed Chun Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in just under two hours of play.
Stodder, who graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a bachelor degree in finance last year, was seeking his third semi-final appearance on the Pro Circuit.
“Now I am happy that I have secured my professional career with my bachelor’s degree,” the 24-year-old Berlin native said. “Nevertheless, I would very much like to prefer a tennis career first. Corona unfortunately thwarted my plans this year. I hope that all the tournaments really start again now. I definitely want to crack the Top 300 in the next two to three years. ”
Tseng will next take on Raul Brancaccio. The unseeded Italian defeated US-American Stefan Kozlov 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 58 minutes.
Matusevich advances
In the bottom half of the draw, Anton Matusevich continued his great run of form by reaching his first semi-final of the season. The 19-year-old British qualifier fought back from a set down to overcome No. 4 seed Manuel Guinard of France 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3.
Matusevich withstood 11 aces and broke his opponent’s serve five times to prevail after two hours and 37 minutes. The teenager, winner of the 2018 US Open boys’ doubles title alongside Bulgarian Adrian Andreev, feels comfortable in Hamburg.
“It’s wonderful. The organization is great. It’s very easy to get practice and transportation has been excellent. We go to Hamburg quite a bit, maybe four or five times a year to visit my grandparents. We really like the city and the club,” Matusevich said.
Next up will for the World No. 576 will be No. 2 seed Kacper Zuk. The 21-year-old from Poland is the highest seed left in the singles draw. Zuk edged out No. 5 seed Alex Molcan from Slovakia 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 24 minutes.
