STARNBERG, October 31, 2020
Austria’s Sebastian Ofner and Taro Daniel of Japan will meet in Sunday’s singles title match of the Tennis Challenger Hamburg presented by Tannenhof. Ofner upset the tournament’s top seed Kamil Majchrzak from Poland 7-6(3), 6-1 in the stage of the final four.
The 24-year-old from Bruck an der Mur fired 12 aces and won 81 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 23 minutes. Ofner will appear in his first final on the ATP Challenger Tour since finishing runner-up to Italy’s teen sensation Jannik Sinner at the Val Gardena Open in Ortisei in November last year.
No. 2 seed Daniel received a walkover from defending champion Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands, who pulled out of the semi-final due to medical reasons. The ATP announced in a statement that a player has been withdrawn from the tournament following the return of a positive COVID-19 test result on Friday. The player has been isolated and remains asymptomatic.
Hamburg ATP Challenger – ATP Statement pic.twitter.com/v5MJ7BPV2y
— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) October 31, 2020
Daniel and Ofner will meet for the first time. Ofner is seeking his third career title on the ATP Challenger Tour. Daniel could lift his seventh Challenger trophy, his second of the season following his triumph in Burnie, Australia.
Later in the evening, Majchrzak was back in action alongside Marc-Andrea Huesler from Switzerland, who captured his third ATP Challenger singles trophy at the Wolffkran Open in Ismaning last weekend. The pair took the doubles title after a hard-fought 6-3, 1-6, 20-18 win over Lloyd Glasspool from Great Britain and US-American Alex Lawson. The final lasted 69 minutes.
