STARNBERG, October 24, 2020
No. 3 seed Chun Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei and No. 2 seed Kacper Zuk from Poland will meet in Saturday’s singles final of the Future Nord, an ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event held at the venue of the Hamburg Tennis Association.
World No. 287 Tseng, nicknamed Jason, fought past Raul Brancaccio from Italy 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 in the stage of the final four. The 19-year-old sent down six aces and won 75 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and 17 minutes.
“My other nickname is ‘machine’ because I always run so fast,” said Tseng, who captured two Grand Slam titles as a junior, winning the 2018 French Open trophy as well as at Wimbledon. Since the age of 13, Tseng has trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Sophia Antipolis, Southern France and benefited from the fact that he was able to practice with stars like Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Stanislas Wawrinka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, John Isner, Jeremy Chardy and Caroline Wozniacki.
Who impressed him the most? “Roger! He is the only player who can play all the shots. He plays very clean and has beautiful slice. He can play very fast, and he can give a lot of spin to the balls. He has the best control of the ball I’ve ever seen.”
Asked about his idol, Tseng responded: “My idol was Kei Nishikori. He has been one of the best Asian players. We have a similar style, playing very fast from the baseline. I watched his videos a lot to see where I can improve my game.”
Zuk holds off Matusevich
Later on Friday, Zuk ended the run of British qualifier Anton Matusevich thanks to a 6-3, 7-6 win in one hour and 12 minutes. The 21-year-old from Poland capitalized on two of his nine break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 12 minutes.
“I have already been here. I played a Challenger here last year. Now, I am doing well at this week’s event as well,” Zuk said. “I know Tseng, as we played together in doubles last week. It is going to be a tactical match but I am looking forward to a good final.”
Twenty-one-year-old Zuk is seeking his sixth title on the ITF World Tennis Tour, his third of the season following his triumphs on home soil in Poznan and at the GB Pro Series in Barnstaple in Great Britain. Tseng could lift his fourth trophy on the Pro Circuit, his first since 2018. It will be the pair’s first meeting.
In other action, Viktor Durasovic of Norway and Markus Eriksson from Sweden took the doubles title in Hamburg. The Scandinavians battled past Raul Brancaccio and Mark Vervoort from the Netherlands 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 in the final. The encounter lasted one hour and 37 minutes.
