Serbian runner-up Vladimi Vladimi, who started with such high expectations and extremely confident of victory, was…
Vladimir Vukiceivc, Serbia’s runner-up in the rankings with such high expectations and extremely confident of victory, had to have a bitter experience in the night from Friday to Saturday in the second semi-finals of the HTT Tour finals in 2017, and after a confident group stage with three preliminary round victories, his hopes for a successful title defence were surprisingly dashed. The 36-year-old last year’s winner had to fight for a long time and a total of 2:46 hours to defeat the 7 years younger sensationalist Matthias Wolf from the SKVS Flötzersteig with 6:7,6:4,4:6, losing the race for the number 1 position at the end of the year against Wolf’s opponent Lukas Prüger. For the 3-time HTT-wimbledon winner, it was the first defeat on the Masters level after eight individual victories en suite, while his conqueror emerged from the shadows of the top stars, played his way up to great tournament sensation, and celebrated his greatest career success with his debut in the final of the HTT-tour finals. A report by C. L.
July-HTT-500-winner Matthias Wolf is the big sensation of the 28. 2nd edition of the HTT tour finals at UTC La Ville. The 29-year-old Viennese, who was smiled upon by many HTT insiders and experts as a frequent player and scorer, after two days without victory before the end of the match and only after his last impression with a two-stage victory over Alexander Schager, climbed into the semi-finals of the HTT finals at Altmannsdorf branch, advanced in the semi-final night session in front of a crowded hall. It seemed to be set up for the dream finale between the numbers 1 and 2, the reigning HTT French Open winner and the 3-time HTT Wimbledon champion, the season’s dominator and the title defender for the final duel for the number 1. In the very last match of a season with 122 tournaments, it would have been decided who would end the year as HTT industry leader. But then Matthias Wolf came along and wrote a completely different story with his very personal Masters fairy tale. And what an addition!
The clock at the centercourt of UTC La Ville showed 01:31, when Matthias Wolf dropped his racket, clenched both fists to signal the victory, and under the thunderous applause of his fans and the appreciative applause of the Vukicevic appendix, walked to the shake-hands on the net. It was once again one of those epic tennis battles on tour finals level, which will be philosophised about years later and fascinated the audience on site. None of the visitors left the hall, although it went deep into Saturday morning, when Vukicevic and Wolf fought for second place in a playfully average, but all the more exciting match for second place in the finals of the HTT Tour Finals alongside Lukas Prüger. With the better start for Matthias Wolf, who immediately tackled his role as an outsider with great dedication, and managed to get his service games through with great effort, but was able to serve them away from the front. Vukicevic, on the other hand, seemed to be untouchable on his own serve, before Wolf found his first break chance almost out of nowhere, and seized this only opportunity. The 29-year-old shone with a hammer hard backhand winner, and served minutes later on the win of the first set. At the first set point, the net tape stood in the way of the fourth ranked player, and so he got the re-break 4:5. It was finally a tie-break, in which Vukicevic presented a catastrophic performance and won the first point at 0:5. After 67 minutes, Wolf had put himself under massive pressure with a 7:6 lead and his opponent in terms of defending his title.
If Wolf should leave the forces in today’s final against Prüger at some point, one will speak of a Pyrrus victory in the review. And indeed, Wolf could have easily visited the Players Lounge shortly after midnight, if, yes, if he had used the breakball for his 2-0 lead to a break of 3-0, which might have been the decisive break. But he didn’t, and so the thriller took its course at the center court of UTC La Ville. The 29-year-old was no longer efficient enough to serve with a single stroke, and that was when he would have missed two serve games at 7-6,4-3. But when combined with the nervous tension, things like this can go wrong, and Wolf actually gave up both service games. Vukicevic held up his hope for the final after another 50 minutes with a 6:4 and seemed to have the often quoted momentum on his side for the third set. Pustekuchen: Wolf stormed towards the Mastersfinale, supported by an unspeakable avalanche of mistakes, which his Serbian opponent had set in motion with the backhand. 5:1 Wolf was in the lead before Vukiceivc presented his great fighting qualities and finally awarded the semi-final hit at the Centercourt the title “worth seeing”. The Serbian HTT superstar made three games in a row to the delight of his fans, before Wolf got tired of the thrillingly scary spectacle and fixed the 7:6,4:6,6:4 triumph with his own serve. 104:104 points were in the end after an epic game for both players, it was hardly more balanced and exciting.
It was a bit unexpectedly long, unexpectedly complicated and unexpectedly I lost. I was too sure of winning and thought about the final far too early, even though I hadn’t won yet. The beginning was ok, but the match got worse and worse from my point of view. I soon felt that it was going to be a tough day. I’m usually the dominant player on the pitch with self-confidence, but I had my doubts at 3-3 in the first set. Chances were there, but the match went in the wrong direction. I fought to the end, but it was just a bad day for me today. It’s a pity, I’m really disappointed,”said the runner-up in a first statement. The HTT organizer asked Matthias Wolf neither he himself nor the established colleagues:”No, not really. Yesterday he won, it seemed good to me. Seven days ago I won easily, but today he played great. That was a different Matthias than a week ago,”said the 36 years old mountain range, who finally reviewed his 2017 season and said,” It’s very disappointing. I wanted to win here, but that’s classic for me. This year I was too unstable all year round. One day I play great, the next day I play really badly. That’s my problem right now. In the end, playing singles and doubles here was perhaps too much. I wasn’t hungry enough today. The fire wasn’t there anymore “, Vukicevic closed the PK, before he came to talk about the missing DJ Seb” I missed him very much today. Somehow it fits when we arrive and he plays the right music. It’s pushing hard, and I’ve been spoiled by him lately. Today that was missing, I missed him because the Rene somehow had no feeling at all. Moderation wasn’t bad, but DJ-wise it was very bad today, I have to get rid of that,”says the dethroned defending champion, who is 27th. After the first player since Philipp Schneider and only fourth player of the Open era after Christian Kainz (1999/2000), Bernhard Nagl (2005/2006), Andreas Harbarth (2007/2008) and Philipp Schneider (2013/2014) he missed the chance to win the finals twice in a row.
I feel great, I am of course very happy to have won the match and I am already looking forward to the final which will take place in 13 hours. The big question is, how can I regenerate halfway fast to get my performance back tomorrow? I’m confident I can do that. In the Head to Head it’s 3:0 for the Luki, but at the French Open I took him a set to zero, that’s what I have to build on. And also the group match was relatively close, everything was possible. It’s certainly something inside, but I have to be physically full of it, maybe the Luki is a bit nervous and I’ll hopefully perform top again “, says the sensational man from the SKVS Flötzersteig,” I’m happy to be able to play against the number 1 in the final, that’s a super thing, of course. I had my tactics against Lukas already before the tournament, I have a few surprises for the final, but I won’t announce them here. The pressure’s still on him. He has to win the tournament, I can win it. For me, the group stage was already a success, everything I am now taking with me was an additional reward,”said Wolf, who then once again commented on the battle against Vukicevic,” I knew that I was in top form, could play a third set without any problems and had to continue my style of playing. A lot of security, working on his backhand, not giving him any angle on the forehand, that was my plan and I never changed it. The start into the third set was important, and today I’m sure a lot has been decided in my head. Luck may also have been there “, Wolf remains in the big triumph and after his 80th birthday. HTT career-single modest.