Mayrhuber fights his way into April HTT 500 Round of 16 with his first victory in 691 days

WAC star Fabian Mayrhuber can still win and is in the running for the third time after 2012 and 2016…

WAC star Fabian Mayrhuber can still win and will be in the round of 16 of the April HTT-500 tournament for the third time after 2012 and 2016. The former ranking first and April HTT Champion of 2012 won his first-round duel against David Wieczorek on Friday afternoon at the start of the 2018 clay court season after initial problems and a generally uninspiring performance with 3:6, 6:2, 6:4, and celebrated his first individual victory at the HTT since 29. May 2016. 691 days after his so far last success – at that time in the round of 16 of the HTT French Open with a 6:0, 7:6 against Bernd Brunner – the 29-year-old once again had the feeling of victory. However, the 141st individual success of his HTT career did not satisfy the winner of 2 HTT Grand Slam tournaments and a total of 11 HTT titles. “The main thing is to reach the second round”, but not only the former HTT top star locates air upwards. C.L reports from the UTC La Ville

More than two and a half hours had passed before the current No. 621 of the HTT computer ranking list at the UTC La Ville centre court had qualified for the second round in its opening match against David Wieczorek of the Altmannsdorf TC in three hard won sets. From his point of view, the result was right, but that was all that the 2-time HTT Major winner could take with him on this super-sunny afternoon. In terms of performance, the 29-year-old was far away from those golden times when he was one of the closest favourites at the major HTT events, catapulting himself into the elite list of winners at the HTT Wimbledon and the HTT US Open. 2018 the rabbit runs differently on the HTT, and Mayrhuber himself is on the circuit with different requirements. Working, “Fabsch” now feels for the first time how it feels to play a successful tournament at the weekend after a working week in the office. Without the necessary background through constant training units, even an experienced tournament player like Mayrhuber lacks the automatisms.

In turn 1 of the classic clay court on the Altmannsdorf branch, David Wieczorek also built up a player ahead of Mayrhuber, who is capable of a lot on good days and can defeat an opponent who is not in the game anyway. Surprisingly on Friday afternoon, however, the way in which the 30-year-old presented himself in a duel with Mayrhuber for three sets turned out. There was not the usual powerful game with a great willingness to take risks, but a discreetly reserved performance based on attempted consistency and stability. Not least because of this, Mayrhuber had two and a half hours of massive problems with his counterpart. Wieczorek led quickly 4-1 in the first set, and played this early lead skilfully and safely home, while Mayrhuber had tried in vain to make at least one service game. In the second set, Mayrhuber changed the rolls, now he got the better start, and laid the foundation for set equalisation with his fast 3-0 lead. In the decision, hard fought, not high class, but really exciting, the former first in the ranking stood out at the end and fixed the already mentioned 141st individual victory of his career with 7:5 in the 191st HTT Career Match. “I haven’t played well, I just don’t have the match practice. But I’m one round ahead, and I’m still getting a game at a high level. Against Szabados – if he wins – I’m a blatant underdog, have nothing to lose and can play free,” said the 29-year-old, who still has an outstanding score to settle with the round of 16 at the April HTT-500 anyway. In 2016 he had to admit defeat to a French qualifier named Nils Klermund in the last 16 rounds.

The number 2 seeded Kevin Köck also made a successful appearance at the UTC La Ville centre court on Friday evening under the motto “Reparation”. The 20-year-old November Masters Series 1000 winner rehabilitated himself in the first-round win against his WAT Landstrasse team mate Nemanja Dejanovic with a 6-2, 7-6 success for his “bloodless” and critically-generating appearance in the round of 16 at the March Masters Series 1000 tournament two weeks ago in Südstadt, and at least in terms of motivation & body language in the 100th minute. HTT match of his career the disappointing 3:6, 1:6 against Josip Franijevic forgotten. However, his victory in the fourth round of the last 16 in a row in 2018 was particularly fiercely contested in the second set. On the other side of the net, Serbia’s young star Nemanja Dejanovic was a surprisingly strong opponent against the threat of defeat. While the 18-year-old had to book the first set of his 65th tournament start in the category “acclimatisation time”, the March HTT 500 champion of 2015 was fully involved with the music in the second round. The former twelfth in the rankings, who started his third April HTTT-500 tournament after 2014 and 2015 without a current HTT ranking, was pleased in the second set to challenge his high-calibre opponent and give a positive touch to his comeback with the first match since the Cash4Car Cup in March 2017. Dejanovic led 4:3, 5:4 and 6:5 before the tie-break turned out to his disadvantage and the 18-year-old missed his possible 80th individual HTT career victory. Nevertheless, it was impressive to see with which performance Dejanovic played against a current HTT top ten star despite a long break. It’s hard to imagine how he would play without a break, and where he could stand. “It was a tough day, especially up front. You’re playing against a club mate, and then against an opponent who hasn’t played in a tournament for ages, so you don’t know where he stands. That’s why I’m satisfied with my performance today. I hope I also refuted the criticism after my appearance in Südstadt,” smiled the fifth in the rankings after his anniversary match.

January HTT 250 champion Manuel Wachta, on the other hand, had nothing to laugh about by literally putting his first-round appearance at the April HTT 500 tournament in the Altmannsdorf sand. The 32-year-old WAC player, still in 13th place in the annual “Race to La Ville”, crashed into a bitter 2:6, 2:6 collapse against Markus Böhm from UTC Raika Hotspurs Moschendorf, and also staggered into his third consecutive first-round defeat against Burgenland’s dami. Particularly sobering from the point of view of the 7th seeded Wachta was the fact that the number 31 of the HTT computer ranking could not get his serve even once during the entire opening game of this year’s clay court season. “I’m beginning to think that my tournament victory in January was not an advantage for my further development,” emphasized the 32-year-old after his opening outing. What happened on the first day of the April 27th HTT-500 tournament at UTC La Ville? The qualification for the 25th season tournament has started fully and brought three sovereign winners with Lauro Nächt, Peter Ofner and Gerhard Koch, while Emanuel Layr had to postpone overtime in the form of three played sets against Markus Kolar-Mohr from the Ober St. Veiter Tennisclub.