Young star Maximilian Wild has apparently overcome his last persistent depression of form, and on Monday he…
Young star Maximilian Wild seems to have overcome his last lasting low in form, and on Monday evening in the last match of the third match day at the HTT Tour Finals at UTC La Ville against HTT Wimbledon winner Bernhard Scheidl he kept his chances for the semifinals at the big season finals of the HTT with a 6:4, 6:4 success won in 75 minutes. For Bernhard Scheidl, on the other hand, the semi-final move was the first player to be played after his second preliminary round bankruptcy. From the UTC La Ville reported for hobbytennistour.at C.L
Shooting star Maximilian Wild is back in the ascent race for one of the four semi-final places in the HTT Tour Finals 2018 at UTC La Ville. The 18-year-old from UTC Stockerau may dream of the 6th title this season after the first single Tour-Finals victory of his career at the Altmannsdorfer Ast event, which is endowed with 1500 victory points, and with a two set victory over Serve & Volley King Bernhard Scheidl has forced a decision game next Wednesday against Martin Mayer. The youngest player in the field, who recently had to struggle with a persistent and inexplicable form crisis, regained his strength in the duel with the reigning HTT-Wimbledon champion. Unlike his first-round match against Jahn or his previous week’s appearances at the November HTT-500 tournament, Wild was back on track, focused on his strengths, with a clearly structured match schedule, and so full of action when it came to a first round dominated by the two serves. At 3:3 and in the ominous seventh game of the first set, Scheidl’s greatest weakness became apparent for the first time that evening. For the second time in the course of the Tour finals, the odds were not those with which Scheidl had already defeated the big stars and won the big titles of the Tour.
Only 19 points in 41 net attacks, the decisive parameters in Scheidl’s game were again on “defeat” when the big scoreboard on the center court of the UTC La Ville almost ten minutes before 1 am and after the end of the night session all statistical data once again gave the best. At the baseline and out of the game, Scheidl won’t win any matches in the concert of the greats, and if then his parade doesn’t work with the necessary frequency and efficiency, then it will be really difficult for the 33-year-old from Lake Neusiedl. To make matters worse, Scheidl left his service in the decisive phase of the first set, and with two double mistakes the third ranked player stumbled into the first and only break of the opening set at 3:4. Wild served out two more break chances of his opponent at 5:4 in the style of a seasoned player and after defending, and was finally able to rejoice in a small sense of achievement after losing three sets in a row.
After Break & Rebreak right at the beginning of the second set, Wild then cracked his opponent’s serve a second and ultimately decisive time to 3:2. Otherwise, it went with the serve in a second set, which had hardly more highlights to offer. With one exception, when Wild made a sensational lob tweener in the first rally of the eighth game to attract attention and stand ovations in the hall. The game is standing upside down on the net, through the legs over the opponent into the field, so Wild has probably succeeded in the stroke of the tournament. Much more important than this spectacular blow for Wild will have been the fact that he didn’t burn anything in the finish with his own service, and with his already 48th single win of the season he could finally be happy about a full success again.
“After this victory, I’m of course doing very well, because I still have the chance to make it to the semi-finals. Also the relief is huge. Of course I heard in advance how difficult Bernhard Scheidl is to play because of his serve & volley. I am happy to have mastered this situation,” said the young star. “I concentrated better today than in the last matches. It was an all or nothing game, so this time I was fully focused,” said Wild, who will play against Martin Mayer on Wednesday in a direct duel for second place in the group behind Philipp Jahn and a place in the semifinals. Bernhard Scheidl, however, had less to laugh about last Monday evening, as he apparently can’t really make peace with the big season finale at the Altmannsdorf branch. In the meantime, the HTT Wimbledon winner has already lost 7 times in eight Tour Finals events. “This is explained by the fact that the best of the best play in this tournament, and every game is hard to win. Today I never felt good at any time and couldn’t use the few chances I got. Especially in the beginning, when he was still insecure, I would have had to present it,” said the 33-year-old.
“Not having won a set here yet, and definitely being out of the ascent race now, is of course very disappointing for me. Nevertheless, the two defeats must be seen in a different light. I played a good match in the first match, so you can lose against a player like Mayer. But I’m at a loss about my performance today,” said Scheidl, who will start his last game on Wednesday with full vigour despite his early retirement. “This tournament deserves far too much respect to give away a match here. It’s a lot of fun with all the presentation here, and I’d like to thank the organizer for that. It’s also about points for the ranking, and maybe there’ll be a good match for me without pressure and expectation. I want to improve once more, just play a great game, and I want to win,” said Scheidl before the new edition of the HTT-Wimbledon Final against Philipp Jahn.