ISMANING, October 13, 2022
German teenager Max Rehberg continued his great run of form on carpet by reaching the quarterfinals of the Wolffkran Open in Ismaning. The 19-year-old wild card entry defeated Dutch veteran Robin Haase from the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6(7) on Thursday afternoon.
Rehberg, who captured his maiden title on the Pro Circuit on the same surface in Forbach, France two weeks ago and knocked out second seed Tomas Machac in the opening round in Bavaria, saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on one of his own four break-point chances to seal victory in one hour and 19 minutes.
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“I am proud of myself and my team to have reached the quarterfinals here. The hard work of the last couple of years is paying off,” said Rehberg, who practices close to the Tennis Club Ismaning at the TennisBase Oberhaching. “Playing in front of my home crowd is a big advantage. I know the courts, I know a lot of the people, who are watching the matches. This is a big plus.
“I have started to believe that I can beat strong players like Robin. I am calmer and more focused on the court. This is very important and I am in a good mood. I served well and tried to be aggressive from the baseline. I hit a couple of good angles, which was important to make my opponent move.”
The World No. 596 will next take on his compatriot and qualifier Elmar Ejupovic, who rallied past Lukas Klein of Slovakia 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 55 minutes.
Pospisil beats Forejtek
Earlier in the day, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil defeated Jonas Forejtek from the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 6-4. The No. 3 seed of the €45,730 ATP Challenger Tour event fired 19 aces and won 93 per cent of his first-service points to succeed in one hour and 35 minutes.
“He was playing very well. I thought it was good level. We both had chances in the first set. The key was my serve and when I was focused I felt that I have the edge. But that’s tennis on carpet and my experience also helped me,” former World No. 25 Pospisil told Tennis TourTalk.
“It’s a tough surface. It feels like every point is very dangerous. It doesn’t matter who you are playing. Only a few points make the difference. Anybody can beat anybody.”
Pospisil captured his 10th ATP Challenger career crown in Quimper at the beginning of the season and finished runner-up at last week’s Open de Vendée in Mouilleron-Le-Captif. “The last couple of months I started to play much better. I feel that I am playing a very high level, close to my best tennis. However, my number one goal is to be injury free and after that rankings are taking care of themselves.”
The World No. 122 will next face Vitaliy Sachko of Ukraine.
Hello fans of carpet tennis! 👋
This is the place to be! The only ATP Challenger tournament on this surface is being held this week in Ismaning 🇩🇪#ATPChallenger#WolffkranOpen #Ismaning pic.twitter.com/QfYEk5BcA6
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) October 13, 2022
Top seed Quentin Halys booked his spot in the stage of the final eight with a hard-fought 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-5 win over Ramkumar Ramanathan from India in one hour and 58 minutes. The 78th-ranked Frenchman will next play Briton Alastair Gray.
Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan and Polish qualifier Kacper Zuk round out the final eight competitors.
