Wenzel Graski takes care of 4.

Tour debutant Wenzel Graski last Monday made one of the two most prestigious tour debutants in the…

Tour debutant Wenzel Graski won one of the two most prestigious HTT-Challenger tournaments last Monday, taking place during the two Austrian ATP events, and won the HTT-Erste Bank Open Challenger in Vienna’s Stadthalle. The 14-year-old from the Colony Club set himself in the final of the 108th Colony Club. The second season’s tournament against number 1 seeded and 20 years older Robert Bazant at the Next Gen Court won 7-6,6-0 after just 66 minutes of play, and cheered for one of the most beautiful and important tournament victories that can be won as a hobby player of this country at his HTT premiere performance. A report by C. L.

Young star Wenzel Graski met the Erste Bank Open Week on Monday to live up to his role as the favourites – due to the performances shown in the previous rounds – and, after initial difficulties and a first set in the final of the Erste Bank Open Challenge won in the tie-break, also overtook final opponent Robert Bazant. The 14-year-old, who only played 9 games in his first HTT career finale on his five-round journey to the opening set of the Erste Bank Open Challenger Final at the Next Gen Court, felt a headwind for the first time in the course of the tournament, and obviously had to struggle with a nervousness that was understandable. In the ATP ambience with ball children, line judges, referees and spectators, a unique and incomparable atmosphere arose, which tended to paralyze rather than inspire both players at the beginning. A curious break orgy was the result, which lasted for 10 games and found its end in an exciting tie-break. Graski had left out two set points before setting the course for the title with a forehand winner, and despite 30 unforced mistakes he had fixed the 1-0 lead in the set.

With the confidence of the won first set, Graski delivered the performance that duplicated the competition for the prestigious Stadthallen-Challenger title in the days before. And while the 14-year-old would have been able to get into a huge gala form in front of his family and his coach, his opponent would probably have preferred to hide in the catacombs of the town hall. Bazant played a terribly bad second movement, which also came like a revelation, statistically documented. In only 16 minutes the spell was over, Bazant had to be content with only 5 points. Not a single point win after his second serve, and with only one winner and 18 mistakes at the same time, the 34-year-old had scored an absolute horror statistic. After the last of his 43 unforced errors, his opponent fell to his knees at exactly 2:24 p. m. cheering and celebrating his huge triumph in a style similar to that of his rival days before.

“I’m very happy about this success. This is my biggest victory since I’ve played tennis and by far the biggest cup I’ve ever won. I was very nervous before the match today. The whole flair with ball children, line and referee referees has already impressed me very much and therefore I was certainly not able to play my best tennis in the first set. In the second set, however, I played fantastic from my point of view. I can’t play much better than that,”beamed the new Erste Bank Open Challenger Champion, who at the age of 14 provided the fourth teenage triumph at the Stadthallen-Challenger after Nils Klermund (FRA/15 years), Noah Deron (FRA/15 years) and Florian Harca (AUT/13 years). In the end, Robert Bazant, the underdog, was happy with the outcome of the tournament and my performance here. Considering the fact that I had actually cancelled and that I only got back into the tournament after the HTT-organizer’s intervention, a final participation is sensational. In the first round it was very close, but the deserved winner triumphed with the second set,”said Robert Bazant, 34 years old.