Maximilian Berger, who is playing under the Norwegian flag, has reached the quarter-finals of HTT-Australi….
Maximilian Berger, who is playing under the Norwegian flag, saved himself in the quarter-finals of the HTT-Australian Open 2018 with a lot of fighting spirit and good luck over Nicolas Moser, who has been playing excellently for a long time, into the final round of the first HTT season major event, and with a 3:6,6:4,7:5 success, he won the semi-finals of an HTT Grand Prix for the first time in his career. The 21-year-old from Hietzinger TV was on the defensive over long stretches of the 2:21 hour thriller in a playful manner and was lagging behind in terms of results before he also benefited from his 15-year-old opponent’s lack of routine in the final. In the end, the statistics also prove that Berger was able to score a curious and happy victory. Berger scored 96 points in a highly intensive tennis fight, one point less than the defeated Nicolas Moser. A report by C. L.
The HTT community had reckoned with a smooth two-set victory from Maximilian Berger in the Facebook prediction game for the match of the day against Nicolas Moser, and had clearly distributed the role of favourites. Even more so, after Berger’s dazzling performance on the eve of last night’s match and the clearest Grand Slam defeat of 2016’s second-placed runners-up and HTT Australian Open winner Vladimir Vukicevic in the quarter-finals. But Berger stumbled within 24 hours from an exclusive gala performance right in the middle of a stuttering performance against the No. 61 of the HTT computer ranking list, which could hardly be beaten by cramp and mistakes. This also had to do with the qualities that his 15-year-old counterpart brought to the evening’s live game. Right from the beginning Moser worked consistently and forcefully, soon he had the necessary tailwind from a 3:0 lead with two breaks, and the established opponent on the other side of the net bought off the edge. Moser also did not throw the first service loss to 1:3 away, because the WAC-young star proved to be highly efficient in his own service games, thus increasing the pressure on Berger during his service games. At 3:5 the 21-year-old then also showed an effect, delivered a completely failed service game, and after exactly 40 minutes and 20 unforced errors had to give up the first set with 3:6.
In the second movement Moser will mourn for a long time to come, because the 15-year-old would have had to close the bag in these 10 games lasting 45 minutes and make the decision in his favour. At first, not much had happened in view of the carelessness with which Moser dealt with his chances. The next-generation final semifinalist had missed a break at 1-0 lead when he impatiently drove a backhand into the net. In Moser’s view, two break possibilities remained unused at 2:1, before he made a serious tactical mistake against an opponent who had long since been counted. When Moser won the first break to 4-2 in the third attempt, Moser took the tempo out of the game, played with a lot of trajectory and little courage to take risks and was promptly punished for it. 4 games in a row went to Berger, who equalized the set with 6:4, and the duel for a semi-final place at the HTT-Australian-Open hoisted him into a tense third round.
Moser had a better start there at first. The 15-year-old played an excellent return game at 1:0, scored a 2:0 break and demonstrated in the first few minutes of the game what he is capable of. The big Moser show announced itself at Spielball 3-0, before the WAC-young star with a backhand error became obvious, and the two protagonists introduced a real break-orgy with six service losses in series. In a finish that could hardly be surpassed in terms of excitement, Berger served for the first time at 5:4, before Moser, who dominated for a long time, seemed to be on the winning track. After the re-break to 5-5, Moser led 40-0 on his own serve, but with five consecutive points, Moser finally cleared his opponent’s way into the semi-finals of the first season’s major. Berger thanked his 15-year-old opponent well, benefiting from a failed attempt at praise from Breakball Mosers, before he was able to enjoy the work win and promotion to the semi-finals of the HTT Australian Open after 2:21 hours of play and a sly Moser backhand.”How did I win this match,” Berger showed immediately after the match ended unbelievingly, said Berger,”How did I win this match? All in all, as a spectator, you got a late hour tennis treat that didn’t deserve a loser.