Köck wins debutante’s duel against Markovic and retains his semi-final chances

On Monday evening, WAT Landstrasse youngster Kevin Köck played in the opening single of the third day of the game…

On Monday evening, WAT Landstrasse youngster Kevin Köck clinched his first victory at the Masters in the opening single of the third matchday at the HTT-Tour-Finals 2017 at the UTC La Ville. The number 6 seeded November Masters Series 1000 Champion defeated Filip Markovic from Serbia, who was also victorious after the first matchday, in a duel between two Tour Finals debutants, 6-2,4-6,6-3 after 1:49 hours of game time, and kept the first-ever clashes between the two HTT top players in what was called the “game of last chance”. For Filip Markovic, who lost to fellow countryman Vladimir Vukicevic in the final group match, however, it’s “only” 200 ranking points and a lot of prestige. Team Donaufeld’s 23-year-old has lost his second qualifying round defeat and at the same time won Vukicevic against Wiesmühler and is now without any chance of advancing to the semi-finals. A report by C. L.

The youngest player in this year’s HTT Tour finals will remain in the race for a place in the semi-final at the big season finale of the Hobby Tennis Tour at Altmannsdorf branch. However, Kevin Köck needed 109 minutes and 48 winners to win the Master’s Newcomer’s duel against Filip Markovic in front of his dad and girlfriend. A short “forehand branch” gave Markovic his first break in the seventh game of the first set and somehow interrupted the existing flow of play at the age of 23. Köck took advantage of his opponent’s first phase of weakness and scored a decisive second break to 6:2. But anyone who now thought of a fireworks display of brilliant winners of the 19-year-old was quickly taught another. Although the WAT-Landstrasse star also started in the second set with breathtaking performance and two won games to the 2-0, but that the sixth ranked player is not quite stable yet, when certain circumstances come to bear on the Centecourt, one got to see in the following. A break can always happen, the question is how to deal with it. And Köck still has potential and air to the top.

For the 19-year-old lost a series of break points in the elation phase, which Markovic eventually accepted with thanks. And getting one of the fittest and most consistent players back into the match can have fatal consequences. Those for Köck were first of all the lost second set and a lot of wasted energy, which could be missing in such a long lasting and high-calibre tournament in the decisive phases. Köck became more and more error-prone, while Markovic played his part in the baseline in his usual mature manner. In the end, Köck had produced no less than 54 unforced errors, a sum that would never be enough to win the Tour finals in duels with the big favourites here. In the end, Köck also benefited from the fact that Markovic left three match balls unused at 40:0 in his 3:2 lead in the decisive third set. This was the crux of a game that had been completely open until then, as Serbia’s number 2 did not make a game any more.

“That was a great match with a deserved winner. Kevin played aggressively and hit the ball very hard. He has a great length in his forehand shots, and I had to dig out the balls 5 meters behind the baseline throughout the match. That’s fatal in a hard court. I could annoy the Kevin with my defensive tactics and tried to force him to make mistakes, but he remained calm and beat phenomenal winners in the decisive phases. There was nothing missing today except a good serve. I’ll definitely have to improve it in the future. Then I’m confident I’ll be able to do a lot with my game. There must be no weaknesses at this level. I’m looking forward to the last match against Vladi. I have to play different tactics than today. That I can annoy him could be seen in the semi-final of HTT-Wimbledon “, Filip Markovic summed up his second appearance at the HTT Tour finals in 2017.

“That was a great match. Filip played incredibly well and forced me to take more risk. I made a lot of mistakes by doing so. In some situations I was just too stupid and gave away a lot of points. But in the end, only victory counts. It was a clear increase to the first match, especially in the playful area. I can be happy to have won here, because the Filip would have deserved it just as much today,”said Köck, who will now be fighting for a ticket to the semi-finals of the HTT Tour Finals on Wednesday in the last preliminary match against HTT-US Open winner Patrick Wiesmühler.