KAARST, January 17, 2017

The ITF indoor swing in Germany continues this week with the $15,000 Kirschbaum International powered by Energy Concepts, held at the Tespo Sportpark in Kaarst. Main draw action started on Tuesday with Gijs Brouwer causing the week’s first upset.

The World No. 769 from the Netherlands knocked out the tournament’s number three and champion of last week’s Südwestbank Tennis Grand Prix in Schwieberdingen, Evgeny Karlovskiy, rallying 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Brouwer withstood seven aces from the Russian and capitalized on four of his nine break point chances to prevail in one hour and 56 minutes. After the match, Karlovskiy complained about pain in his hip. Brouwer will next play the winner of the encounter between German qualifier Vincent Jaensch-Müller and Patrik Niklas-Salminen from Finland.

Neil Pauffley

British Aegon Master Tour champion Neil Pauffley also arrived from Schwieberdingen, where he fell in the quarterfinals to Yaraslau Shyla, but opened his Kaarst campaign with a 7-6, 6-3 win over 16-year-old German youth champion Henri Squire, who entered the draw with a wild card.

Pauffley sent down eight aces, winning 76 per cent of his first service points to seal victory in one hour and 22 minutes. Next up for the British World No. 640 will be either seventh seed Vasym Ursu from the Ukraine or Dutch qualifier Colin van Beem.

Elsewhere, David Poljak emerged victorious from the all-Czech-affair with sixth favourite Michal Schmid, winning 76, 7-6 in one hour and 30 minutes. Lukas Ollert from Germany edged past Joran Vliegen of Belgium. The 24-year-old won 75 of the 137 total points played to finish the encounter after 90 minutes.