KASSEL, July 17, 2015
The dream of an all-German-final at the country’s biggest ITF Future tournament in Kassel has disappeared on Day 5 at the Wilhelmshöhe Open.
Nine locals made it into the second round, four to the quarterfinals and only one is left on Friday evening – Peter Torebko. The 27-year-old defending champion is still unstoppable, beating his compatriot Maximilian Marterer, who has already captured three Future title this season, in a close match 7-5, 7-6 to make it to the semis without dropping a set.
The second-seeded German will face Anton Zaitcev next, who took out Kevin Krawietz, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The 27-year-old Russian rallied back from a set down and capitalized on six of his eight break points to prevail.
For Kassel’s champion of 2011, this year’s edition has come to an end, as Dusan Lojda lost to Duje Kekez 4-6, 4-6. The in-from-Croat has reached his second consecutive semi-finals on the Future Circuit, after he ended runner-up at the US-$ 10.000 – event in Saarlouis last week.
Oriol Roca Batalla still justifies his role of Kassel’s top-favourite. The 22-year-old Spaniard defeated his German opponent of same age Julian Lenz 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The two met at junior’s level of the French Open in 2011 and back then Roca Batalla also emerged victorious. Before coming to Kassel, the Barcelona native was sidelined for 15 days from the tour due to injury, but seems to handle the break well and wants to reach his first final since June 2015 when he claimed the title in Stara Zagora.
