MEERBUSCH/STARNBERG, May 9, 2022

The 2022 Kirschbaum International concluded with the title win of Gauthier Onclin on Sunday. The 21-year-old Belgian stopped the run of German teenager Max Rehberg, winning 6-3, 6-1 in the singles final in Meerbusch, Germany.

Onclin booked his spot in the championship match after wins over Hazem Naw of Syria, Dominik Recek from the Czech Republic and Frenchman Robin Bertrand as well as the retirement of Jonathan Mridha from Sweden.

The World No. 628 and seventh seed of the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 clay-court event, showed that he was the more experienced player in the title match. Onclin capitalized on four of his seven break points to secure victory in one hour and five minutes.

“He only made four or five unforced errors,” tournament director Marc Raffel analyzed afterwards. Onlcin captured his fourth career title on the ITF Pro Circuit, his first on European soil.

World No. 1,066 Rehberg played his first final at senior’s level but ran out of energy in the end. The 18-year-old from Munich had to go the distance in his first three matches of the tournament. Rehberg will next compete in the main draw of the Neckarcup in Heilbronn.

At the beginning of the week, Oscar Otte was also a guest at the TeReMeer in North Rhine-Westphalia. Germany’s new No. 2 has enjoyed a great run of form on the ATP Tour in recent weeks. Otte reached the quarterfinals of the Serbia Open in Belgrade and the semi-finals on home soil at the BMW Open in Munich.

“I’m resting a bit this week, watching my buddies on the courts here in Meerbusch and will prepare for the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome,” the Cologne native said.