Lucas Serme clinched the Austrian Open title 2014 after a great match against top seed Kristian Frost. Both players showed great physical strength and long and intense rallies.

There was no sign of fatigue after the young Frenchman already had a five game battle in the semi-final. After a 20 minute long opening game, which Lucas won 11/6, Kristian was able to lift the pressure more and came back strong to win the second game 11/5 and levelled games to 1-1.

The third game was the deciding game. The pace and intensity was enormous and the sold out crowd was fascinated by the retrieval skills of both players. Kristian had that little bit of advantage through most of the game until 9/7. But it was then when Lucas geared up and reached game ball at 10/9. However it took him another game ball to finish the game 12/10 after 61 minutes of play.

This seemed to have broken his opponent not just physically but also mentally, as the fourth game was an one sided affair and Lucas raced to a 10/3 lead, making use of his first match ball to win the game 11/3 and the match with 3/1 after 81 brutal minutes.
  

Before the tournament, I didn't have a lot of confidence, as it was my first tournament after injury since November.

I am happy to win and am thankful to have won after I lost here in the semi-final last year. By the time I was feeling even better and my back and hip was fine.

Thanks to Aqeel for putting on the tournament as it is hard to play an run the event.

11/8, 11/9, 11/2 (45m)

[7] Reiko Peter

11/7, 5/11, 12/10, 11/3 (81m)

[2] Lucas Serme

5th PSA title
for Lucas

12/14, 7/11, 11/4, 11/5, 9/5 rtd (cramps)

[2] Lucas Serme

13-Mar, Qualifying Finals:

[1] Anthony Graham (Eng) 3-0 Markus Traublinger                      11/1, 11/0, 11/2 (15m)
[3] Patrick Miescher (Sui) 3-0 [7] Courtney West                         11/5, 11/3, 11/0 (30m)
[4] Tim Weber (Ger) 3-2 [6] Martin Svec (Cze)           11/8, 11/8, 6/11, 5/11, 11/8 (55m)
[2] Andre Haschker (Ger) v [5] Jonas Daehler (Sui) 11/9, 10/12, 13/11, 9/11, 11/3 (90m)

13-Mar, Qualifying Round One:

Martin Svec bt André Ergentz                                                 11/9, 12/10, 11/8 (35m)
Markus Traublinger bt Christoph Ressel                 11/9, 8/11, 7/11, 11/8, 12/10 (43m)
Courtney West bt Andreas Eibl                                                11/5, 11/8, 11/2 (23m)
Jonas Dähler bt Martin Mosnik                                           walkover ill

15-Mar, Semis :
Top seeds through to final in Salzburg
by Aqeel Rehman

The finalists of the Austrian Open are decided.

Lucas Serme was able to create a great comback after being 0/2 to overcome his opponent, fourth seed Mahesh Mangaonkar from India. The first game was a very long and thight fight between them, with Mahesh reaching the first game ball at 10/9. Lucas was able to recover from that to get to game ball himself at 11/10. But this time it was the young frenchman who couldn't benefit from it and Mahesh reached another game ball at 12/11, which Lucas saved another time. But at 13/12 to the Indian it was finally end of the game and Mahesh won 14/12.

From the second game on Mahesh seemed to get more in control of the match, with very clinical shots to the front. Lucas tried to extend the rallies, with no luck yet. Mahesh was able to get a 2/0, but from the third game on it was obvious that the intense game so far had taken it's toll. Lucas was able to keep the pace up and the rallies going and things started to turn around.

The fourth was very on sided and with Lucas winning it 11/4, he was now back in the match. Mahesh could not really recover anymore and he started to show some fatigue, by stretching his legs more and more. Lucas kept going and took the fourth. In the fifth it was very obvious that there was no way around the frenchman anymore, and at 9/5 to Lucas, Mahesh had to retire with heavy cramps.

The second semifinal was a contrast. Though the first two games were very tight as well. The crowd was rooting for Reiko Peter, but Kristian Frost was a bit too strong. The rallies took very long, and both players had chances to get a lead. After a 2/0 lead for the topseed Frost, it seemed as Reiko's will was a bit broken and Frost could run away to a 10/2 lead, finishing his first matchball to save himself a spot in the final as well.

This means the final on Sunday will see the top two seeded players, Kristian Frost and Lucas Serme. Match start is 2 p.m. local time.
 

15-Mar, Quarters :
Austrian hopes dashed in Salzburg
by Aqeel Rehman

Top seed Kristian Frost denied the crowd for another home victory by beating defending champion Aqeel Rehman 3/1. The Salzburg born Rehman was able to get back into the match after winning the third game and the fourth was an intense battle with both players giving it all and creating tough rallies, but Aqeel wasn't able to get on top of his opponent more and Frost went through into the semis.

His opponent will be Reiko Peter. This was very unexpected as third seed Jan Koukal seemed to be in total control and leading 2/0 in games, but the Swiss fought back amazingly and leveled to 2/2. The fifth game was a real nail biter and couldn't have been any closer, Reiko just had the better end by taking the game 12/10.

The second semi-final will take place between second seed Lucas Serme and fourth seed Mahesh Mangaonkar. Serme was just too good and consistent for Bradley Hindle, winning his match 3/0. Mangaonkar only had one little setback in the third game, just losing it 12/14 to Alex Ingham, before closing the match out 11/8 in the fourth.

The semi-finals will take place Saturday 19.00 and 20.00 local time.

14-Mar, Round One:
One Austrian though to Quarterfinal!
by Aqeel Rehman

Today's start of the main draw of the Austrian Open saw some good matches with Austrian progress into the next round. However it was close to both home players Aqeel Rehman and Jakob Dirnberger making it through.

Jakob lost in a very close match to seventh seed Reiko Peter from Switzerland. Jakob had a 10/7 lead in the opening game but couldn't close the game and Reiko was able to turn things around to take the game 13/11. Jakob played very well in the second game as well and was able to equalize to 1/1. Unfortunately for the homne crowd the third game was a one sided affair for the Swiss but the fourth was a close battle again. Jakob could save a matchball at 9/11 to get to gameballs at 11/10 and 12/11. This time Reiko was twice able to stay in the game and had the better and again turned things around to win 15/13 and 3/1 in games.

Therefore Aqeel Rehman kept the home hopes alife after a 3/0 victory over german qualifier André Haschker. André though suffered during the second game from a dead leg, with Aqeel showing to signs to slow down and is looking for a quarterfinal clash with top seed Kristian Frost.

Kristian Frost had some troubles in the start of his match against Anthony Graham, but was able to win the match 3/1.
Another seed had to fight hard for a quarterfinal spot. Third seed Jan Koukal saw himself 1/2 down against German qualifier Tim Weber, who showed some great shots, movement and fighting. Jan stepped up a bit though and was able to lift his game a bit more and showed his routine to still win the match 3/2.

The rest of the matches went according to the seeding as well. There will be two rounds of play tomorrow, action starts 12 noon and 7p.m.

13-Mar:
Main Draw decided in Salzburg ...
by Aqeel Rehman

Today's last round of qualifying for the Austrian Open showed contrasting matches. While Top seeded qualifiers Anthony Graham and Patrick Miescher scored clear 3/0 victories, André Haschker and Tim Weber, both from Germany had to fight for five games.

 André showed some little bit more stamina, after four very close games, winning the decider 11/3 after 90 minutes of play. Tim looked in control after two games, however his Czech opponent Martin Svec fought back to level 2/2 in games. The German had the better end to and turned things around again an won the fifth game 11/8.

On Friday, the main draw will start with two Salzburg born players Jakob Dirnberger and Aqeel Rehman. The crowd will see some tough games with some Austrian progress hopefully! Action starts at 4pm. 

12-Mar:
Qualification coming up...
by Aqeel Rehman
 
This will be the 10th edition of the PSA Tournament in the Tenniscourt Süd in Salzburg, formerly the Salzburg Open, renamed since 2010 the Austrian Open. We are very proud to have established this tournament and our beautiful city on the PSA calendar.

It will be a tough task for defending title holder and Austrian National Champion Aqeel Rehman to repeat another success in his home tournament. However the crowd will be once again pushing the Salzburg born the same way as usual, but also another Salzburg home hero, Jakob Dirnberger.

Top Seed Kristian Frost is expected to meet Aqeel Rehman in the quarterfinal, while Dirnberger is playing number 7 seed Reiko Peter in the opening round.

Both qualification rounds will take place on Thursday, while Friday afternoon the main draw will start on the Bella Vita Centre Court. The players will enjoy the hospitality of the NH Hotel Salzburg City who are a new Sponsor to this tournament.

A big Thanks go to all the sponsors, City and County of Salzburg, NH Hotel Salzburg City, Bella Vita, Wilson, Elektro Ausweger, Gernerali, Sportunion Salzburg and the Tenniscourt Süd.