On Thursday, the German tennis talents cast more shadows than light in the DTB camp, but one of the men’s hopefuls made a real statement.
Another victory for Max Hans Rehberg! The 20-year-old German is surprisingly in the quarterfinals of the Challenger tournament in Verona, Italy. The number 416 in the ATP world rankings surprisingly beat the number six seeded Italian Andrea Pellegrino (number 156 in the world rankings) 3:6, 7:5 and 6:1 in the round of 16.
Rehberg looked like the loser for a long time. In the second set he was already 2:5 behind and subsequently fended off three match points on his own serve and one match point in the following service game from Pellegrino.
With this nerve of steel, the youngster ultimately took the wind out of the sails of the favorite. In the last two games of the second round, Pellegrino did not score any more points. On the way to victory, Rehberg fired ten aces at his opponent and also showed great strength in his return game. Overall, the DTB talent scored 92 points, 13 more than the Italian.
In the quarterfinals, Rehberg, who is likely to hold a new top position in the world rankings next week, will now face Ecuadorian Álvaro Guillén Meza (number 229 in the world rankings), who in turn defeated Italian Francesco Maestrelli (number 247 in the world rankings) in three sets.
Henri Squire was already eliminated in the first round.
Many DTB talents have to throw in the towel
Joelle Steur is also in the quarterfinals of the W35 tournament in Casablanca (Morocco). The 20-year-old number 667 in the WTA rankings lived up to her role as favorite with a 7:5 and 6:4 win against Belgian Margaux Maquet (number 1302 in the world rankings).
Otherwise, there was little to gain for the tennis talents from Germany. Rudolf Molleker had to pack his bags at the Challenger in Zug (Switzerland), as did Mara Guth, Luisa Mayer auf der Heide and Julia Middendorf at the W35 event in Horb (Germany), Helena Buchwald at the W15 tournament in Viserba (Italy) and David Fix and Aaron Funk at the M15 tournament in Metzingen (Germany).
Source: www.sport.de
