2024-02-12 18:41:40
Austria’s U12 team was only stopped by Slovakia in the final in Sunderland.
The Tennis Europe Winter Cups are a format created in 1977 in order to be able to compete with the top European teams in a team competition during the indoor season. The fact that Austria’s U12 boys don’t have to shy away from continental comparison with the best in Europe was impressively demonstrated these days. After second place in Zone C in Krefeld two weeks ago, the red-white-red selection, which was supervised on site by ÖTV U12 national coach Robert Maieritsch, also finished the final round in Sunderland in excellent second place. It was only in the final on Sunday that Luca Sageder (OÖTV), Lionel Frießnegg (STTV) and Fabian Leitner (OÖTV) finally suffered a 1-2 defeat against Slovakia in the industrial city in the north-east of England. “It was a great tournament from the boys, I’m extremely proud of our team,” Maieritsch said happily. Rightly so, as this success finally broke new ground in the long history of this event.
Maieritsch: “Obviously reaching the final is a sensation”
The ÖTV boys first eliminated the Czech Republic 2-1 in the quarter-finals and “played really well and put together a really well-run decisive double,” said an enthusiastic Maieritsch. And the Styrian, who lives in Carinthia, also saw an “incredibly good performance” in the 2-1 win over Switzerland in the semi-finals, which had already been decided after the individual matches. What they achieved was fantastic. Although the Swiss boys also put up a great fight – that was an extremely high U12 level.” The final began with a 2:6, 1:6 defeat by Frießnegg against Matteo Sanson. “In terms of the result, it was smooth, but in terms of the game it wasn’t really. He was there in every game, at 30:30, 40:40, but it just didn’t go his way. It felt like it was more like 3:6, 4:6, but Sanson was more consistent and more compact from the baseline.” However, Sageder kept the home hopes alive with the 7:5, 7:5 over Martin Adamca in the second singles. “It was a great match between the two of them,” said Maieritsch. “The opponent was a head taller, but Luca fought really hard and was able to equalize.”
Only the happy ending should be missing: Leitner/Sageder lost the all-important doubles against Adamca/Samson 3:6, 2:6, which was also Sageder’s first defeat ever in the final round. “There was a bit of a lack of air there – a shame, actually.” The level of play also suffered in the decider and, according to Maieritsch, “wasn’t really worthy of a final. I’m sorry for the boys that they couldn’t match their previous performances. There were also a lot of no-ad points against us, and you have to say that the bottom line is that the others deserved it. They played a little more courageously in the decisive moments and acted more actively from the back.” But that didn’t detract from the extremely positive summary: “I was very happy and was pleased that they made it to the final in Krefeld To qualify for the final round – that was a big leap.” In the long history of the Tennis Europe Winter Cups, “our U12 boys have, as far as I know, never achieved that,” said Maieritsch. “The fact that they continued on the successful path in the final round and made it to the final is of course a sensation. I’m happy for the boys and hope that they take a lot of energy from this and that they can achieve further positive results this year.”
Austria’s U14 girls are also attacking
In addition to Austria’s U12 boys, the U14 girls also qualified for the final round in Zone C in Svedala a week ago. Next weekend, ÖTV U14 national coach Franz Kresnik’s team will be playing in Rakovník in the Czech Republic from February 15th to 17th. Anna Pircher (TTV), Lea Haider-Maurer (BTV) and Kara Fronek (WTV) could also be capable of doing a lot here.
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