WAC stars have a real chance of winning the Prater Cup at home

The once so glorious and traditional Prater Cup is back in the tournament calendars of the…

The once so glorious and traditional Prater Cup is back in the tournament calendars of the federation and the HTT, but not yet quite in the minds of many managers and players. That is the conclusion after three days of the Prater Cup 2018 and before today’s semi-final day on Monday. It is unlikely that “their” most traditional tournament will come to life again, and that “their” Prater Club members will be led to new splendour. At least two clubs have recognized the signs of the times, and are highly committed and motivated to bring the legend back to life, and to make the Prater Cup a presentable event again far beyond the Prater borders. A really good promotion for the Prater Cup at the neighbouring clubs would of course also be a home victory, and two more WAC stars can provide for that in the 2nd edition at the noble SV Schwarz Blau. From the Prater in Vienna reported for hobbytennistour.at C.L

In the Prater the trees are blossoming again, a film from the late 50s of the last century with a very well-known title. In the Prater, the trees are blooming again, as they have probably done since 1162, when the Prater was first mentioned in a document. However, the names of the players to whom the Prater Cup is actually aimed are not yet quite flourishing. As a tournament for all players and members of the Prater Clubs, the Prater Cup once had a huge reputation in the Viennese tennis scene. With “only” 17 entries from two of just under half a dozen Prater clubs, the former traditional event in its current second comeback edition is still dependent on the help of HTT and their players from various Austrian clubs. After last year’s victory for Moris Ahmetasevic from Bosnia, however, it could at least work out this year with a home victory for the Prater stars. In the semi-final of the Prater Cup 250, which was surprisingly composed, experienced Jürgen Buchhammer from Team Donaufeld and the Russian newcomer Konstantin Samlukov will be joined by two WAC aces.

Because what began on Saturday with a terrible dilemma and the fear of a mega-bankruptcy on the part of the WAC stars turned to good yesterday Sunday. After the number 1 seeded Manuel Wachta had to admit defeat to Daniel Pfeifer in three sets in his opening game Vienna’s ITN 5.0 category ITN tennis champion, and Martin Dampier in his first-round match at the SV Schwarz Blau centre court of the HTT-US Open winner of 2008 Robert Libal with 6th place:0, 6:0 was almost humiliated, this year as a cooperation partner of SV Schwarz Blau in matters Prater Cup engaged and appearing large club seemed to practice only in nice neighbourhood help for the time being. With two fixed courts, the second edition of the Prater Cup revival was a quasi co-host this year. WAC President Martin Kirnbauer and the board members Markus Rühl and Jiri Marik jun. were always on hand to help with one or the other additional court when tennis marathons took place on the four courts of SV Schwarz Blau.

After a “hot” tennis weekend in Rustenschacher Allee, the Vienna Athletics Sports Club can still hope for a home victory. Even a pure WAC final is possible, as HTT newcomer Jiri Marik jun. and Martin Vesely are two of you in the preliminary round in the two tableau halves. But the two WAC aces won’t have it easy, because with Jürgen Buchhammer and Konstantin Samlukov they will face two absolutely success-hungry players. The appearance of Russia’s new artist Konstantin Samlukov was particularly impressive. On his way to his first HTT semi-final, the 22-year-old played just 11 games. Both the young French qualifier Paul Haller, as well as the former HTT No. 1 and last year’s finalist Franz Mayarhuber and the 2008 HTT US Open Champion Robert Libal were simply without a chance. “I think Samlukov can still get to grips with it. I’ve rarely felt so hopeless in a match in my tennis career,” Libal said after his quarter-final elimination.

The WAC’s hope for an end to Russian dominance is, however, Martin Vesely. The 44-year-old, who has been playing at the HTT since September 2013, has had a very special tennis weekend in Vienna’s Prater. For the first time since March 2016, and only for the fourth time overall, the veteran is in the semifinals of an HTT tournament. After a walk-through in round 1, the number 2 seeded WAC player celebrated his 50th HTT career individual victory against TC Strebersdorf-Ace Sebastian Hickl in the round of the quarter-finals and the 125th single of his HTT career with a working victory of 6:4, 6:7, 7:6 in the last match of the day against Tour debutant Robert Golja on Sunday evening. Whether the 83rd career tournament start will be enough for Vesely for a final for the first time will be decided in the first single of the semifinal day from 1 pm on the SV Schwarz Blau course.

And yet another player experiences something like a resurrection in the higher spheres of the hobby tennis tour this weekend. We are talking about Jürgen Buchhammer, who celebrated his 10th HTT anniversary this February. However, the now 35-year-old has already seen better times, and so the last years turned out to be something like a longer period of perseverance. This seems to have come to an end on this Prater Cup weekend, as the 2-time HTT title winner has reached a semi-final again for the first time since the September HTT 250 tournament of the 2013 season. Even longer, namely 5 years and 4 months ago, it was even possible for Buchhammer to win three matches in a row during a tournament. At the March HTT 250 tournament in 2013, on his way to his second HTT career title, he won 5 matches in a row, beating Alexander Walter, Jens Gudenus, Christoph Fragner, Marios Kiss and Andreas Motycka. And one of the men who was defeated at the time was also involved in Buchhammer’s renewed triple-pack success at the Prater Cup 2018, namely Mario Kiss, who stood in as a replacement for the ill Valentin Krenkel. There wouldn’t have been much missing, and Buchhammer would have suffered another of his countless first-round defeats. But a catastrophically played tie-break of his opponent saved Buchhammer and started a new series at the same time. Perhaps the 99th career tournament will once again be the hour of Jürgen Buchhammer!