POZNAN, July 18, 2015
The single’s semi-finals as well as the tournament’s climax in the doubles competition featured a sunny but also windy Day 6 at the € 64.000 ATP Challenger Poznan Open.
In the opening match on centre court, fourth-seed Radu Albot defeated Adam Pavlasek in their first tour meeting, winning 6-0, 1-6, 6-3. The 25-year-old Moldovan took the first set in only 20 minutes and Pavlasek had to wait until the second game of the second set to make it on the scoreboard. From then on, however, the momentum switched to the 20-year-old Czech, when Albot started to hit a couple of unforced errors. Pavlasek broke his opponent’s service three times to take the match the distance, when an even encounter started to take place. In the end, it was the world number 118 from Chisinau, having the better shot selection in the decisive moments to seal victory in one hour and 35 minutes.
Albot advanced to his third Challenger final of the season and Tennis TourTalk spoke to Poznan’s last year’s doubles champion after his match:
Top-seed Pablo Carreῆo-Busta beat the tournament’s third favourite Lucas Pouille, winning 6-2, 7-6. The world number 67 from Spain, who lost the only previous meeting with the Frenchman in Meknes last year, was in command of the encounter right from the beginning. Carreῆo-Busta fired seven aces and lost his serve only one time in the sixth game of the second set. Yet, the 24-year-old Gijón native recovered quickly and eventually closed the match after one hour and 19 minutes in the tie-break.
Tennis TourTalk spoke to the Spaniard after his match:
Carreno-Busta Semi-finals Poznan 2015
Top-seeds Mateusz Kowalczyk and Mikhail Elgin captured the doubles title, winning the final 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 against Julio Peralta and Matt Seeberger in one hour and 21 minutes.
“It was a big surprise for us, we didn’t know these guys and they played really well in the first set. But after we changed our game, crossing more and made more pressure. That’s why we won,” Kowalczyk told afterwards. “It’s somethings special for me. I like this city, I am really happy,” the Pole added after lifting the trophy in front of his home crowd.
“This has been my best season so far,” Elgin said after winning his seventh Challenger crown this season. “But now I am going to play some ATP events and I will do my best there. So we will see, what’s happening. Today, I am just happy with the win here.”