Aqeel Rehman keeps home hopes alive at Austrian Open

Today the crowd at EUROPARK shopping mall saw four amazing quarterfinal matches of the Austrian Open, withlocal hero Aqeel Rehman making it into the semifinal.

The opening match between seventh seed Christopher Binnie (JAM, WRL 135) and unseeded James Peach (ENG, WRL 172) saw the Englishman causing for another upset and beating his higher seeded opponent in four games.

The next quarterfinal between defending champion and second seed Yannik Omlor (GER, WRL 96) and sixth seed Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP, WRL 132) turned out to become the longest match of the tournament so far. After a thrilling five-setter and 90 minutes of play, the german national player had the better end and proceeded into the semifinal.

Also the following match was decided just after five games. The all-swiss affair between last year’s runner up and top seed Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI, WRL 94) and Robin Gadola (SUI, WRL 139) looked like a possible upset, as Robin took a 2/0 lead. However Yannick achieved a great comeback and turned the match 3/2 after 59min.

Last on court was the home favorite and fifth seed Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 121) against number four seed Diego Gobbi (BRA, WRL 118). A well attended stand cheered the Austrian number one to great performance and beat the Brazilian 3/0 after 30min. He will meet Yannick Wilhelmi in a repeat of last year’s quarterfinal!

Here are the full results of the quarterfinals

15:30: James Peach (ENG, WRL 172) – [7] Christopher Binnie (JAM, WRL 135) – 6/11, 11/5, 11/3, 11/5 36min
16:30: [2] Yannik Omlor (GER, WRL 96) –[6] Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP, WRL 132) 10/12, 11/8, 10/12, 11/7, 11/5 90min
17:30: [1] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI, WRL 94) – [8] Robin Gadola (SUI, WRL 139) 11/13, 9/11, 11/3, 11/5, 11/5 59min
18:30: [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 121) – [4] Diego Gobbi (BRA, WRL 118) 11/8, 11/6, 12/10 30min

These are the semifinal line ups and match times on Friday:

17:30: [2] Yannik Omlor (GER, WRL 96) – James Peach (ENG, WRL 172)
19:00: [5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 121) – [1] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI, WRL 94)

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