Temperatures as usual only at the beginning of July at the HTT Wimbledon tournament, sunshine at just over 30 degrees…
Temperatures as usually only at the beginning of July at the HTT Wimbledon tournament, full of sunshine at just over 30 degrees, it was already aggravated and at the HTT French Open such unprecedented conditions, which were waiting for the players on yesterday’s first day of the 27th Tennislife.at May Grand Slam tournament. For the first time in the 28-year history of HTT, the second HTT Season Major event was awarded another mark of exclusivity by qualifying for a tournament with a 64 grid. Three victories are needed as qualifier to get into the main competition tableau enriched with superstars without end. For one of the great HTT French Open stars of the past, however, yesterday’s first day of play at UTC La Ville was already over. The winner of the 2010 May Grand Slam is Franz Mayerhuber, who had to retire early in a dramatic first-round marathon against Wolfgang Tritthart after losing the tiebreak in the decisive set. From the UTC La Ville reported for hobbytennistour.at C.L
Franz Mayrhuber, one of the two HTT French Open champions of the past at the start of the second HTT Season Grand Slam Tournament, and the first seed was eliminated. The now 53-year-old former first in the rankings – this time ranked No. 11 – was beaten 7:6, 2:6, 6:7 by Wolfgang Tritthart of TC Hrubesch after a heat battle lasting almost three hours at the centre court of UTC La Ville in the opening game of the 42nd season’s tournament. It was the third HTT French Open opening defeat overall for the veteran of the SK Ministry of Handicraft after 2012 and 2016. The May Grand Slam winner of 2010 made a false start in the heat of Altmannsdorf with a 1:5 deficit, which he compensated with consistent work and flawless basic tennis and a sensational chase to catch up. Mayrhuber’s comeback in the first set culminated in victory in the tie-break to a 1-0 lead, which a self-sacrificing opponent could equal in the second set with 6-2.
Mayrhuber was continuously leading in the decision at his 10th HTT French Open start, but there was no happy end for the 53-year-old at his jubilee start. In the second tiebreak of the opening match Tritthart had the better end with 7:4 for himself, and to celebrate the promotion to the second round of the HTT-French Open 2018. “It was brutal conditions and it was extremely difficult to play,” agreed the two HTT aces after the HTT French Open opening game at Centercourt uniso. In two sets, however, Rene Gräflinger beat Slovakia’s number 1 Pavol Cabada, Ingemar Radosztics over the more expected Raffael Gruber, and Stephan Schamp-Hertling against Paul Eder and qualified for the second round. On the other hand, the second law that was in action on Thursday passed with a hair’s breadth at the opening out. The No. 13 of the tournament Bernhard Scheidl had real trouble and almost 2:45 hours to fight to win the night session against Alexander Ziervogel with 4:6, 6:4, 6:4.
In the qualification for the second HTT Grand Slam tournament of the year, which started on Thursday, a total of 28 matches of highly hungry HTT stars from the second row were observed, motivated and determined to achieve their goal of “main competition participation”. Two men with very different performances were conspicuous. First of all, we must talk about Markus Hobiger. The now 41-year-old record participant of the HTT delivered the next indisputable performance yesterday, Thursday, and is still in free fall. His 345th career tournament became a complete fiasco and leaves many questions unanswered after his departure. First of all, the bare numbers, which sealed his 15th defeat in 2018 with 4:6, 6:3, 4:6. Worse was the way the HTT evergreen presented himself in the opening game of his 35th HTT Career Grand Slam tournament at the 3-player court. For the first time the Guntramsdorfer had to qualify at his 11th HTT French Open, and there Alexander Matzenauer not only gave him a close fight over three sets, but also brought the 41-year-old Lower Austrian mentally to his limits and beyond.
In the end, Markus H.’s sixth first-round defeat at the HTT French Open and a head-shaking opponent with stunned spectators were the ghostly and abstract-looking performance of the HTT record player. Permanently violating the volume level, forgetting the good manners in dealing with fellow players and making confusing comments, Hobiger ran into a debacle that was both sporty and human. His opponent even criticized Hobiger’s expulsion at the end of the day in view of his behaviour on the court. Until Kitzbühel, Hobiger does not want to play any more tournaments, so that the next sporting catastrophe at the foot of the Hahnenkamm seems inevitable.
Florian Mayer and Viktor Niedermayer, on the other hand, stood out with top sporting performances. After victories over Serbia’s Trivun Djumic and Florian Mayer, the latter will qualify for his first HTT Grand Slam main competition on Saturday. Florian Mayer, on the other hand, failed by a narrow margin in the second round. Last year’s HTT Junior French Open winner at the JuniorsHTT, the 16-year-old also had to pay tribute to his murderous efforts after six qualifying sets in the finish, beating Viktor Niedermayer 3:6, 7:5, 4:6. So the former HTT Junior Dominator has to wait at least until HTT-Wimbledon for the first major competition.