Defending Champion Fuller ends local hopes at Austrian Open

von Aqeel Rehman · 6. Juni 2019

Top seed Lyell Fuller (ENG) is still on course to defend his Austrian Open title from last year. After a 3/0 victory over local hero Aqeel Rehman he has reached the semifinal.

The record 13 times Austrian Champion Aqeel had the better start at the beginning of the match racing to a 5/0 lead. But Lyell came back point by point and rached game ball at 10/9 wich Aqeel could safe to reach the tiebreak. At 11/10 the Englishman closed the game 12/10 to take the lead.

Also in the second game Lyell had to fight back from 0/4 down. Again he was sucessfull and clinical with his shots and the home crowd the to watch their favourite mostly chasing balls. After a strong performance though Lyell deserved to take the match 3/0 and will meet number 4 seed Angus Gillams (SCO) in the semifinal.

The scotsman turned things around against Vladislav Titov (RUS) in an impressive way. The russian was able to take the first game but then Angus only gave his opponent seven more points. It will be an interesting match of the two british players on friday.

The second semifinal will be between number 2 seed Miko Äijanen (FIN) and Valentin Rapp (GER). Miko celebrated a 3/0 win over Sergio Garica Pollan in less then 30 min, while Valentin didn’t waste too much energy either after beating suprise man Cédric Kuchen 3/0.

Both players should be fresh and ready to show a great performance on the all-glasscourt at EUROPARK shopping mall.

There were the results of the quarterfinal:

15:30: Valentin Rapp (GER) – Cédric Kuchen (SUI) 11/3, 12/10, 11/6 40 min.

16:30: Miko Äijanen (FIN) – Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP) 11/7, 11/3, 11/4, 29 min

17:30: Angus Gillams (SCO) – Vladislav Titov (RUS) 4/11, 11/0, 11/5, 11/2 27 min.

18:30: Aqeel Rehman (AUT) – Lyell Fuller (ENG) 10/12, 5/11, 6/11 40 min.

These are the line ups for friday’s semifinals:

17:30: [2] Miko Äijanen (FIN) – [5] Valentin Rapp (GER)

19:00: [1] Lyell Fuller (ENG) – [4] Angus Gillams (SCO)

Pictures made by Andreas Lutche – alutche-photography.com