Better "Käthchenstadt" than "Eternal City": Daniel Altmaier is in the semi-finals in Heilbronn
Shortly before the peak of the clay court season, Daniel Altmaier really picks up speed. Germany's number three is on the hunt for his first NECKARCUP title this week and has reached the semi-finals with convincing performances and without losing a set.
by Florian Heer from Heilbronn
last edit: May 13, 2022, 09:39 am
After victories over Argentinian Facundo Mena and Constant Lestienne from France, Altmaier defeated another gaucho in Thiago Tirante on Thursday afternoon. It took the 23-year-old just 1 hour and 13 minutes to defeat world No. 208 6-3, 6-2.
"I played solidly right from the start and I'm definitely satisfied with how it went," said Altmaier, who hasn't dropped a single set in his fifth tournament participation in Heilbronn and is brimming with self-confidence. Example of the currently "broad chest" of the Kempener: In the game of the second set that ultimately brought him victory, he was already 0:40 behind, but then scored five points in a row to win the match.
South American expertise in the box and farewell to the Challenger Tour
With coach Francisco Yunis, Altmaier himself is looked after by an Argentine.
"Of course we know the South American players, which is certainly not a disadvantage and makes it easier to prepare for such matches," explains the number 66 in the world. A position that would also have allowed him to compete at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome, which was taking place at the same time.
For this week, however, Altmaier's motto was: "Käthchenstadt" rather than "Eternal City". "I've been trying something else on my game for the past few weeks and I'm hoping this will be my last week on the Challenger tour. At least that's the goal. I want to put in a decent performance and take every opponent seriously because there are many good players at the start."
There is no doubt that Altmaier will establish himself on the ATP tour in the near future. “Now I have to confirm my good performance and win the title. That's why I came here."
With a view of Roland-Garros and the upcoming semifinals
Already in his fantastic run from qualification to the round of 16 of the French Open 2020, good results at challenger level contributed to his success in advance.
"It's still two weeks away. That sounds like a long time. In fact, that means two more tournaments for me, which I will contest until then. The focus is on that, to take a positive momentum to Paris and to be successful there again.”
And first of all there is the semi-final in Heilbronn. There it is now against the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, who was able to prevail in three sets against the Taiwanese Chun-hsin Tseng. In the end it was 5:7, 6:3, 6:4 for last year's NECKARCUP finalist.
Once Altmaier and Galan have faced each other on the pitch. Galan remembers: “That was a super tough match in Santiago in 2021 over two and a half hours. In the end I was able to win the third set 7:5.”
In the second semi-final, Slovakian veteran Andrej Martin meets top Czech talent Jonas Forejtek .