MUNICH, September 2, 2020 (by Dietmar Kaspar)
M15 Anif AUT – Lucas Miedler dominates on home soil
After a 14-year hiatus, the ITF World Tennis Tour returned to Anif, situated in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The GM-Comites Open 2020 was held at the GM Sports Resort, run by former tennis professional Gerald Mandl. The tournament was dominated by Austrian Lucas Miedler, who clinched the singles trophy without losing a set the entire week.
En route to the final, 24-year-old Miedler started with victories against his countryman Bernd Kossler, Thiago Agustin Tirante from Argentina and Kazakh Timofei Skatov.
In the semi-finals, the Tulln native battled past Swiss Davis Cup competitor Sandro Ehrat, who entered the tournament on position five.
Peter Heller of Germany dropped only one set on the way to the final, beating Filip Misolic from Austria, Italian Riccardo Balzerani in three sets and French No. 3 seed Sadio Doumbia. The tournament’s second favourite Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo from Spain was without a chance in the stage of the final four against Heller, winning only one game per set.
Top seed Miedler struck nine aces and won 79 per cent of his first-service points in the title match to seal a 6-1, 7-5 win against the German No. 6 seed after one hour and 37 minutes. The former No. 14 in ITF Junior rankings, who is practices at the Academy of Wolfgang Thiem with his coaches Rico Bellotti und Pascal Brunner, celebrated his ninth singles title on the ITF Pro Circuit.
“I was surprised that it went so well after such a long break. Usually I am a player, who does not return quickly after long breaks. Last week in Vogau, I also played two good matches, but I struggled in the quarterfinal due to little problems on my serve,” Miedler said about his shape in the last two weeks.
Peter Heller avenged his loss in singles by winning the doubles title. Together with his German compatriot Fabian Fallert, he secured a close 7-6, 5-7, 11-9 victory against the Austrian pair of Lucas Miedler and Neil Oberleitner.
After the successful return to the international Pro Circuit, the tournament may be part of the ATP Challenger Tour next season. “We are in promising talks with sponsors to realize it but there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We also will have to modernize our venue,” Mandl told Tennis TourTalk.
M25 Poznan POL – Kacper Zuk captures his second title of the season
Following his title win in Barnstaple in February before the tour’s suspension due to COVID-19, Kacper Zuk triumphed at the Talex Open to lift his second trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2020.
The 21-year old Pole rallied down Dutch No. 7 seed Tim van Rijthoven in the stage of the last four in three sets.
Bulgarian No. 5 seed Dimitar Kuzmanov, who reached his second consecutive final on the ITF Pro Circuit, advanced in the semi-finals with a three-set win against Jelle Sels from the Netherlands.
Zuk from Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki capitalized on four of his eight break-point chances in the championship match to gain a 7-6, 6-1 victory after one hour and 54 minutes. The No. 4 seed celebrated his fifth singles title on the ITF Pro Circuit.
In the all-Polish doubles final, Zuk clinched another trophy alongside his partner Jan Zielinski, beating the two teenagers Wojciech Marek and Mikolaj Lorens by the score of 7-5, 6-2.
M15 Alkmaar NED – Favourite Igor Sijsling seals win
Top seed Igor Sijsling clinched the title of the M15 Alkmaar tournament held at the venue of TC Alkmaar.
The veteran emerged victorious from the all-Dutch semi-final encounter against No. 4 seeded Jesper de Jong in straight sets.
No. 6 seeded Italian Jacopo Berrettini benefited from the retirement of Clement Geens from Belgium in the stage of the last four.
In the final, 33-year-old Sijsling outpointed the younger brother of Matteo Berrettini 53-25 to claim a 6-2, 6-1 win in 52 minutes. The Amsterdam native, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. 52 in 2014, celebrated his 11th singles trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour in addition to his seven titles won at Challenger level.
In an all-Dutch doubles final, young guns Max Houkes and Sidane Pontjodikromo eased past the top seeded duo of Mats Hermans and Sem Verbeek by the score of 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 to take the title.
