Julian Lenz’s strong run at the Marburg Open ended on Friday – the 25-year-old German lost in his first semi-final on the ATP-Challenger Tour. The Argentine Juan-Ignacio Londero won the title.
By Florian Heer from Marburg
Everything was done for the continuation of Julian Lenz’s triumphal procession at his home tournament. Blue skies, sunshine and pleasant temperatures beyond 20 degrees offered perfect conditions for an excellent semi-final day on Friday at the 9th edition of the Marburg Open. Only the persistent wind presented the tennis cracks with challenges time and again.
For the 25-year-old local hero, who was born in Giessen, only 20 kilometres away, the latter was an important factor in his match against Hugo Dellien, the world’s number 120.
“The conditions didn’t necessarily play into my cards, as I serve very smoothly on the first serve. It’s not so easy to coordinate with the wind where the ball is placed,” Lenz explained after his 3:6, 3:6 defeat against the number 3 seeded Bolivian. “I had to go over the second serve many times and could therefore generate fewer free points.”
Despite a loss in the semifinal round, Lenz can be satisfied with his performance this week. The wildcard player beat Austrian Sebastian Ofner and teenagers Rudolf Molleker and Elliiot Benchetrit to reach his first semi-final at Challenger level. “If you consider that I haven’t been able to train much in the last few weeks and this was my first tournament since May, you can be satisfied with the result,” summed up the German, who was excluded from the competition for two months due to tendonitis in his foot.
The highlight of the week for him was the match against the young star Molleker from Oranienburg. “Rudolf is an absolute newcomer in German tennis, who won against an established Davis Cup player like Jan-Lennard Struff in Halle and will definitely be among the Top 100 in a year’s time,” Lenz praised his opponent in the second round.
“But I had set my sights high and had to play my absolute best tennis, served 19 aces, and yet it was still tight in the end. Today it has also been noticed that towards the end I still lack a little physical fitness, but I will have a lot of time in the coming weeks to put something on it.
Lenz will now intervene again in the regional league for TC Bad Homburg before taking part in the ITF futures in Kassel and Wetzlar.
Number 689 is one of the young German players who have also gained experience in college tennis in the United States. “I spent four years at Baylor University in Texas. Benjamin Becker and John Peers were also there,” says Lenz.
“It was a great time, not only for tennis, but also for personal development. You get out of the comfort zone at home and are completely on your own. Some of the training methods are also somewhat unorthodox. You’re already getting pretty rangenommended. It’s toughening up for the professional tour. I also had a good summary as the number 1 of my team. Unfortunately I had to struggle with injuries towards the end, but they also helped me to find out more about my body.” A bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on financing was also offered.
Juan-Ignacio Londero secured the title in Marburg on Saturday. The 24-year-old won the all-South American final against Bolivian Hugo Dellien – it was the second title on the ATP Challenger Tour for the world number 170.
Londero and Dellien were two players who are on a similarly good level and know each other well. 3:3 it was in direct comparison of the two sand court players before the final. As expected, things went back and forth. There were six breaks in the end for Londero, one more than his opponent. After two hours and 12 minutes, the man from Buenos Aires ended the fight with a beautiful longline passing ball.
At the award ceremony that followed, tournament director Heiko Hampl was faced with a special challenge. None of the finalists felt able to make a longer statement in English. So they both thanked the tournament organizers, all helpers and sponsors in their native language.
After winning Challenger in Mexico City in April, Londero triumphed for the second time this season. 6,190 Euro prize money and 80 ATP ranking points are the earned loot from this week. The latter help him to a new top position in the world rankings.
“I’m very happy with today’s match,” said the lucky winner afterwards. “It was very tight. So I am extremely happy to emerge victorious.” Londero will try to continue his success story next week in Bastad, Sweden.
Fabricio Neis from Brazil and David Vega Hernandez are the winners of the double competition. The number one seeded team defeated the Swiss combination of Luca Margaroli and Henri Laaksonen 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, making it their second title of the year after their triumph in Blois, France two weeks ago.
“We’ve now competed twice and won the tournament,” Neis said. And what happens next for the successful team? “We’ll split up,” they laughed. Neis will stay in Germany and compete at the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig. Vega Hernandez, on the other hand, will serve in Perugia, Italy.