6 finals, 5 titles, 1 outstanding week

2020 remains a strong and successful year for Tennis University and its players. After Karlis Ozolins incredible start to the season, with reaching semifinals and finals in the first Junior Grand Slam of the year, as well as Ruben Bemelmans and Jonas Forejtek’s tournament victories, the positive news do not stop.

Because of his excellent junior ranking (#6), Karlis Ozolins moved for the first time into a $15,000 ITF tournament maindraw. And he should use his chance right away. With big confidence, coming from the successful Australian Open, he stepped up in Trnava, Slovakia.
After three-set-wins in the first two rounds, he kept a cool head in the quarterfinals and twice the upper hand in the tiebreak and moved into the semis with a 7:6 (4), 7:6(3) over Petr Michnev. There, with the Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko, the first seeded player was waiting for Karlis. Unimpressed, he made it to the final with a convincing 6:3 and 7:5 success. Danylo Kalenichenko, without losing a set in the tournament and ranked 84 ITF, could not be defeated at this tournament and was too strong for Karlis that day. With 6:4 and 6:4, the Ukrainian secured the title in Trnava.
BUT: Reaching finals in the first maindraw participation of an ITF tournament? Great achievement, Karlis!

In Trento, northern Italy, Ruben Bemelmans started as top seeded player in the ITF $ 25,000 tournament, both singles and doubles, and lived up to his role as favorite. After convincing wins in the previous rounds, being down a set in the final did not prevent Ruben from raising his second trophy in the first two months of 2020, winning 4:6 6:2 and 6:4 over Alexander Erler. 
But that’s not all. The third trophy followed right away at the side of his doubles partner Daniel Masur. The experienced and also top seeded team won the doubles title without losing a set.

Meanwhile, Jonas Forejtek continues to act as if he had been on the men’s tour for years. Don’t forget – the former No. 1 in the ITF Junior World Ranking – started its first season on the men’s tour just 2 months ago. After his success in Antalya at the $ 15,000 ITF tournament, he stayed in popular travel destination and went one category higher ($ 25,000) in the following week. He stormed into the semifinals again, but this time the Argentinian Pedro Cachin stopped his eight-match winning-streak with a 6:4 2:6 6:3 win. However, there should be another title for him. Together with his doubles partner Michael Vrbensky, the top seeded Czech double won the doubles title in Antalya with a strong 6:3 and 6:4 success over the third seeded Hungarian team Marozsan/Nagy.

Karim Maamoun did not want to be inferior to the success of his TU colleagues and started at the ITF $15,000 tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, last week. With 7 titles out of 8 participation on home soil last year, the confidence for another strong performance was big. He confirmed this impressively. He moved through the tournament without losing a set and secured his 18th title on the ITF tour!

Home sweet home

In addition to intense practice sessions at the TU, our young players wanted not to fell short compared to our professionals when it came to tournament successes. At the J2 tournament at the Eintracht Frankfurt tennis facility, Tom Sickenberger competed in the U14 and Adam Singleton in the U18 competition. While Tom lived up to his favorite role as the top seeded player and won the tournament, Adam unfortunately had to admit defeat against the second seed of the tournament in his opening game. Nevertheless, a good performance after a six-month break from the tournament circuit. Sven Corbinais, who competed in the U21 competition at the Indoor Adler Cup, obviously felt comfortable at his club on Eintracht Frankfurts courts. He also secured the title without losing a set. Congrats, guys!

Two weeks ago, the regional newspaper, FAZ, visited the tennis sessions at the TU and interviewed Alexander Waske. Last week the article got published. For our german speaking followers, below you find the link for the article:

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