Daniel Altmaier wins Challenger tournament in Braunschweig
The winner of the ATP Challenger in Braunschweig is Daniel Altmaier . The 22-year-old won the final in just under an hour with 6: 1, 6: 2 against the Swiss Henri Laaksonen.
by PM / tennisnet
last edit:
Jul 11, 2021, 03:00 pm
Altmaier thus crowned a great week without losing a set by winning his first Challenger title. “Of course I am happy. Nobody can take this first victory at ATP level away from me, I will remember it for the rest of my life and it is especially nice that this happens here in Braunschweig, ”said the man from Kempen.
Looking at the past few months, he added that he also deserved the title. “It's been a tough year so far,” he says. A corona infection with associated quarantine was followed by a shoulder injury - this phase cost him two months. “In the past few weeks I noticed that I had improved a lot, but the results were missing. Now the journey can really start ”, declared the number 166 of the world ranking list self-confidently. 90 points will give him a good boost.
At the ATP Challenger 90 endowed with 78,120 dollars & hospitality, the 2020 French Open round of 16 played his way through the field in an impressive manner. Marvin Möller also had no real chance in the German semi-finals at 5: 7, 0: 6. And yet Henri Laaksonen went to the duel as number 137 in the world rankings and number five on the seeding list as the favorite. He had dominated the opponents too convincingly in the course of the tournament with his hard basic strokes. The good shape was also felt by surprise semi-finalist Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic, who had knocked the big favorite out of the tournament in round two with Benoit Paire (FRA). Laaksonen played through a 7: 5, 6: 0 into the final, which took place on the same day. “I'm probably too old for two matches in one day,” he joked at the award ceremony, but then admitted that Altmaier had simply played too hard.
Double title for Polish Davis Cup duo
After Jens Knippschild, Alexander Zverev, Florian Meyer and Yannick Hanfmann, Altmaier is only the fifth German winner at this ATP Challenger, which was held for the 26th time. In doubles, the Polish Davis Cup doubles Szymon Walkow and Jan Zielinski won a high-class and exciting exchange of blows 4: 6, 7: 5, 10: 6 against the twin duo Ivan and Matej Sabanov from Croatia.
"We are just happy that we were able to host our event again after just two months' lead time," said Harald Tenzer, managing director of the organizing Brunswiek Marketing GmbH. For a long time it was unclear whether spectators could be admitted.
Now there were 700 spectators on the final day, around 6,000 in the tournament week. “It's just fantastic that we were able to play in front of a crowd,” said a happy winner Altmaier. "After the long weeks before empty seats, there was real life in the booth again."