Young Tennis Stars Shine at M15 Tournament in Villach: Justin Engel Makes Semi-Finals and More!

With another gala, Justin Engel reached the semi-finals at the M15 tournament in Villach, Austria, and thus achieved the best result of his young career. Even a German final is possible.

By reaching the quarterfinals of an M15 tournament, Justin Engel had already achieved the best tournament result of his career to date, and the next exclamation point followed on Friday. The 16-year-old swept the Slovenian Matic Kriznik (number 1156 in the world rankings) from the field 6:2 and 6:1.

Engel, who is ranked 1237 in the world rankings, defeated the Brazilian Oscar José Gutierrez (number 914 in the world rankings) in three sets in the first round, before delivering a real gala against the Italian Gian Matias Di Natale in the round of 16 Number 955 in the ATP rankings didn’t give him the slightest chance at 6:1 and 6:0.

A success that he further refined with the clear win against Kriznik. The basis for this was, among other things, nine aces and the perfect return of four out of four break chances.

Gentszch also in the semi-finals

In addition to Engel, another DTB representative, Tom Gentzsch (number 540 in the world rankings), is in the final four in Villach.

Gentzsch, who has won eight of ten matches so far in May, defeated the Italian Luca Giacomini (number 598 in the world rankings) 7:6 and 7:5. The 20-year-old German made seven double faults, but five aces kept the damage limited.

However, Patrick Zahraj (number 787 in the world rankings), who surprisingly won the German indoor championships in Biberach in December 2023, was eliminated. The 24-year-old stumbled 6:7 and 3:6 against the top-seeded Swiss Jérôme Kym (number 478 in the world rankings) on the way to the semi-finals. Kym will now face Gentzsch in the semi-finals.

At the M15 tournament in Bucharest (Romania), however, the surprising triumph of another DTB youngster has come to an end. 16-year-old Diego Dedura Palomero (number 1577 in the world rankings) was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Moroccan Elliot Benchetrit.

In the round of 16, Dedura Palomero caused a big surprise when he defeated the Ukrainian Eric Vanshelboim (number 426 in the world rankings).

2024-05-17 11:20:00
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