Mozart Open men: close first round matches with two upsets

Today the first round of the Mozart Open started on the glasscourt at EUROPARK Salzburg shopping mall. A total of eight matches were scheduled while the top eight players had a bye and will join in the second round on Wednesday. There were some very close matches with to longest one lasting 82 minutes.

It was the second match of the day between Rob Downer (ENG, WRL 166) and Jared Carter (ENG, WRL 233) that went into five games and over 82min of play! The two British players know each other well and showed the spectators a really nice game to watch.

Also most of the other matches were very well contended and went to either four of five games. With no surprise there were two upsets with Heston Malik (ENG, WRL 246) beating Marek Panacek (CZE, WRL 211) 3/1 and Martin Stepán (CZE, WRL 261) beating Joshua Phinera (FRA, 218) also 3/1.

Here are the full results of the first round;

[9/16] Henrik Mustonen (FIN, WRL 178) – [WC] Yukhym Bielikov (GER, WRL 350) 11/7, 11/4, 11/6 28min
[9/16] Robert Downer (ENG, WRL 166) – Jared Carter (ENG, WRL 233) 10/12, 11/4, 11/6, 5/11, 11/8 82min
[9/16] Will Salter ENG, WRL 191) – Blessing Muhwati (ZIM, WRL 250) 11/3, 11/9, 11/4 32min
Martin Stepán (CZE, WRL 261) – [9/16] Joshua Phinera (FRA, WRL 218) 12/10, 11/9 10/12, 11/7
[9/16] Valentin Rapp (GER ,WRL 211) – [WC] Fabian Seitz (SUI, WRL 803) 11/6, 16/14, 11/5 37min
Heston Malik (ENG, WRL 246) – [9/16] Marek Panacek (CZE, WRL 211) 12/10, 9/11, 11/5, 11/4 51min
[9/16] Manuel Paquemar (FRA, WRL 219) – [WC] Adrian Perez (ESP) 11/7, 11/7, 11/3 17min
[9/16] David Maier (LIE, WRL 183) – [WC] Rudi Rohrmüller (GER) 11/7, 7/11, 12/10, 11/6 50min

This is the line up for the second round on Wednesday 7th May at EUROPARK Salzburg. The highlight of the day will be the match of local hero and 19-times National Champion Aqeel Rehman against Manuel Paquemar at 18:30.

12:00: 2.Runde: [6] Robin Gadola (SUI, WRL 148) – [9/16] Will Salter ENG, WRL 191)
13:00: 2.Runde: [3] Jakub Solnicky (CZE, WRL 117) – [9/16] David Maier (LIE, WRL 183)
14:00: 2.Runde: [5] Macéo Levy (FRA, WRL 126) – [9/16] Valentin Rapp (GER, WRL 211)
15:00: 2.Runde: [8] James Peach (ENG, WRL 164) – [9/16] Robert Downer (ENG, WRL 166)
16:00: 2.Runde: [7] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE, WRL 161) – Martin Stepán (CZE, WRL 261)
17:00: 2.Runde: [2] Elijah Thomas (NZL, WRL 117) – Heston Malik (ENG, WRL 246)
17:45: 2.Runde: [1] Mazen Gamal (EGY, WRL 96) –[9/16] Henrik Mustonen (FIN, WRL 178)
18:30: 2.Runde: [4] Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 124) – [9/16] Manuel Paquemar (FRA, WRL 219)

A live stream will be available here for some matches. Livestream can be followed here.