HTT newcomer Matthias Haubner had his second tournament start on Tuesday afternoon…
HTT newcomer Matthias Haubner won his first title at the HTT on Tuesday afternoon at his only second tournament start, and played his way into the narrow circle of favourites for the HTT French Open from 31 May to 6 June 2018 with a remarkable performance. In the final of the 27th April HTT-500 tournament, the 23-year-old from Lower Austria declassified number 2 on the seed list Kevin Köck in only 51 minutes 6:2, 6:1, and thus succeeded Patrick Dobesch as the new champion of the clay court opening of the HTT on the Altmannsdorf branch. Without losing a set and with only 13 games in five games, Haubner won the clay court classic at the start of the clay court season at UTC La Ville in such an impressive manner as no other player in the 27-year history of this tournament had ever managed to do before. Kevin Köck had to make do with a silver plate for the fifth time in his seventh career final, but the first time he reached an HTT final in 2018 satisfied the 20-year-old WAT Landstrasse star after a rather moderate start to the season. A report from C.L
Matthias Haubner of UTC Gedersdorf, after a great tournament weekend with five wins without set loss and successes over Serbia’s HTT superstar Vladimir Vukicevic and the HTT Australian Open winner Bernhard Scheidl, also proved his current top form in the final, and the fifth-placed Kevin Köck in a one-sided match and after only 51 minutes of play did not leave the slightest chance. However, Haubner had not shot the three years younger November Masters Series 1000 champion from the centre court, but had worn him down in an inimitable way. Safe and solid with a healthy length in his basic strokes, Haubner waited for the mistakes of his fierce attacking opponent, who unerringly maneuvered from the baseline into the fifth final defeat of his HTT career with 47 unforced mistakes and 5 double mistakes. Haubner, on the other hand, made do with 12 unforced errors and entered the UTC La Ville clay court classic that opened the season as the 21st player to win. In addition, the new April HTT 500 winner became the 451st winner of the Open era.
The 25th HTT Season Final 2018 held the better start for Kevin Köck, who was confirmed by an early break to 1-0 in his decision to opt for a setback in the coin toss. However, Haubner’s counterattack was not long in coming, as the 23-year-old was able to equal the score 1:1 by return with his second break chance. Eight exciting minutes of balance on the once again sun-drenched centre court were over before the Haubner solo began. To zero, Köck won 1:3 in a phase in which his opponent scored 9:0 points, and WAT Landstrasse’s fifth place in the ranking set the course for his opponent’s victory. As expected, Haubner made no effort to actively shape the match himself in view of the avalanche of mistakes that had kicked off. Why should I? Köck continued to press from the baseline and made huge mistakes, which Haubner played into the cards and after only 15 minutes helped to a 4:1 lead. Köck then received the maximum penalty in round 1 in his sixth game, when he could not use a 40:0 lead on his own serve, and Haubner scored his second 5:1 break in a row with 5 points. Haubner could even afford a second loss of serve in the first set, because Köck actually did the trick in the last game to miss a 40:15 lead again on his own serve and to give away the first heat with 2:6.
The preliminary round in the 27th final of the April HTT-500 tournament at the centre court of UTC La Ville then took place in the second game of the second set, when Köck once again took the fourth break in a row to zero, and Haubner took the lead 2-0. A lead that the 23-year-old logically never gave up, and which he had already increased to 5:0 just 10 minutes later. Then the pitiful opponent was granted an honorary game in which he briefly flashed his class. Haubner, however, then served his personal happy end unimpressed and his 6:2 ,6:1 final success to zero and the first HTT title win of his career at the 1,220 single tournament in HTT history since 1990, a curious side: for the third time in a row, the winner of the April HTT 500 tournament won the final with a score of 6:2 and 6:1. In the latest edition of the HTT Computer Ranking, which will be published on Wednesday evening, the victorious Gedersdorfer will also catapult himself into the Top 40 for the first time.
“This was a great tournament for me. I got in better and better from round to round. At the beginning I had to get used to the balls and conditions here, but then I got stronger from match to match, and from the quarter-finals against Vukicevic I played really good tennis. Sand is my favourite surface and I always play the same way as on this weekend. I’m standing in the back, waiting for my opponent’s mistakes, so of course my game works much better outdoors on sand than on fast surfaces in the hall,” analyzed the winner, who has already determined his next goal. “I will play the HTT-French-Open as long as my schedule runs out, and then take the Lukas Prüger apart there”, Haubner smiled after his announced declaration of war. In addition to Prüger, Haubner will also have to fight statistics if he wants to receive the trophy for the HTT French Open winner on 6 June. Because the winner of the April HTT-500 tournament has only three times in the long history of the hobby tennis tour to title teachings at the most important sand court tournament of the scene. 1994 Klaus Hofer, 2005 Bernhard Nagl, and 2010 Franz Mayrhuber, only these three players managed the triumph at these two clay court classics in one season.
“After the last weeks of such disappointing results, my summary of the April HTT-500 tournament is actually positive. I didn’t play my way into the final this weekend but fought my way into the final. With the exception of the match against Paul Henke in the quarter-finals, the playful performance was perhaps not as usual and how I acted in the autumn. But I take a lot of positive things with me from this tournament, such as my fighting spirit, which I have brought to bear differently this time than in the southern part of the city. This will hopefully also refute public criticism. I am now looking forward to the next tournaments,” said the 20-year-old WAT Landstrasse star, who for his part does not expect any major heroics for the upcoming clay court season. “The final gives a lot of lift, but I expect a heavy season on red ash, because I’m not really a clay court player. That’s what you see against players like Haubner today. I am nevertheless looking forward to the clay court season and actually want to play more tournaments than last year,” Köck said.