28-May, Round One:
First Round – Seeds 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 fall!!!
 What
a first round spectacle for the crowd at the PSA Sekisui
Open in Kriens. Six out of Eight – yes you heard that
correctly – six out of eight seeded players lost their
matches against the underdog.
Seed number 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 lost their first round
matches – most of them without even getting into a decider.
But let's start from the beginning:
First two matches on court were Andrew Wagih v Jonas
Dähler and Ammar Altamimi v Lyell Fuller. Two
qualifiers up against number one and six seed.
Dähler started good and already took the first game off
Wagih with a thight 12-10. The next one was all Wagih’s. In
the third you started seeing that not everything was ok with
him. Dähler continued to push very hard and saw himself
winning the third game before Wagih had to retire in the
fourth at 2-0 for Dähler. First seed taken out by a Swiss
player was even though a delightful results for the home
crowd.
 Jonas
Daehler :
Feeling bad to win like this. Andrew is a nice guy and I
hope he recovers fast. Looking forward for tomorrow to do my
best.
Simultaneously on the court next door, Fuller kicked
Altamimi out of the tournament with a solid performance in a
3-0. You could see in both matches that it could have been
even an advantage to play the qualification as those players
were much more used to the hot and bouncy conditions as the
sun came out today and brought beautiful weather.
Lyell Fuller:
I played Ammar a month ago in France so knew the way to
play him and just kept to my tactics throughout. Happy to be
in the quarterfinal feeling fresh and looking forward to it.
 The
next match was Dougie Kempsell v Tim Weber. Weber,
who lost against Parker in the quarterfinal last Saturday,
was all in for a better ending at this Challenger 10 event.
And he succeed in doing so in four - more a less plain -
games.
Tim Weber:
I am happy to be back. Today was a big win for me vs
douglas. It?s my first win and I hope tomorrow it's the
same. See ya ?
 Tom
Ford and Jan van den Herrewegen, two players who already
had some good fights in their junior days, showed a decent
battle. After being one-nil down, Ford came back and won the
match with an 11-8 in the fourth. He was the first player
able to proof his seeding and getting through to the
quarters.
Tom Ford:
It was very hot on there! I think because Jan had played
qualifying he was a lot more used to the court and was
finding his targets better than I was. But for me that was a
perfect first round because I spent a lot of time on the
court and and feeling good for tomorrow.
 The
bottom half of the draw started with Kristian Frost
against local-hero Patrick Miescher. After Frost took
the first two games pretty easily, he seemed to be not to
present in the third but came back in the fourth and closed
the match with an 11-6. He should be the second and last
seeded player to make the second round.
Kristian Frost:
So happy to win in 4 games. I tend to play 5 games only
in tournaments. Hopefully this is a turning point for me ?
Reiko Peter, fifth seed and winner of last week’s
Challenger 5 event in Kriens, took a very bad day today. For
this time, he did not seem to feel very comfortable in his
second living room (court 4 of the Sportpark Pilatus) and
Ashley Davies, clever as he is, sniffed his chance and
also used it. Davies overcame the fifth seed in four close
games and was so the third of four qualifiers to march on.
 Ashley
Davies:
Wow! I never thought I would win! I think I stuck to my
plan very well and most of all kept my head! I have a lot of
respect for Reiko and he plays a great game. Just want to
say a huge thanks to my travelling coach Lyell Fuller ?
Also in the last two matches of the day, the crowd was not
to be disappointed by the players. Benjamin Fischer,
one of the four “Krienser”-boys, was the last of them to get
on court against number two seed Jens Schoor.
Schoor, last weekend in action at the German nationals,
seemed to have a very heavy legs from these battles. He did
not move very well and Fischer took his chance against the
better seeded player - as Davies did it the match before
him. He defeated the german number two in three games.
Beni Fischer:
I am delighted with how I played, my best win yet.
Thanks a lot to my coach Pilz and the rest of the
organization crew. I love playing these events at my home
club!
The last match between Jan Koukal and Chris Fuller
was the longest of the day. Both of them almost fought until
they were not able to move anymore - both must have sore
legs after this nail-biting tie. In the end the third
Englishman made it to the last eight by catching up a 1-2
deficit and finishing off the match with an 11-8 in the
decider.
 Chris
Fuller :
Really happy to win today. It has been a long week since
a disappointing result on Saturday so it feels good to play
better today and get the result. Looking forward to tomorrow
now.
So tomorrow will see very different quarters as imagined
before the tournament. Two seeded players, three unseeded
players and three qualifiers will battle for a spot in the
semis. As Dähler and Lyell Fuller face each other – one
qualifier in the semifinal is guaranteed. But let’s see how
it goes on tomorrow and let’s hope that at least Frost and
Ford can uphold the flag of the seeded guys.
|
The
Draw
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