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Mozart Open
(men) 2023
Men's Draw
29 Mar -02 Apr
Salzburg, Austria, $6k |
Final:
[1] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [5] Robin Gadola (SUI) 12-10, 11-7, 11-9
(34m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt Miko Äijänen (FIN) 11-7, 9-11, 11-9,
7-11, 12-10 (62m)
[5] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt [4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) 11-8, 11-9, 5-11,
11-7 (50m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [8] Robert Downer (ENG) 11-8, 11-8, 11-7
(34m)
Miko Äijänen (FIN) bt [3] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) 14-12, 5-11, 11-7,
11-3 (53m)
[4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Jakub Solnicky (CZE) 11-3, 7-11, 11-9,
11-9 (51m)
[5] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 13-11, 11-4, 11-6 (35m)
1st round:
[1] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt Ondrej Vorlícek (CZE) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6
(26m)
[8] Robert Downer (ENG) bt [WC] David Maier (LIE) 12-10, 7-11, 11-9,
11-8 (54m)
Miko Äijänen (FIN) bt [6] Andrés Herrera (COL) 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 (46m)
[3] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt Yuri Farneti (ITA) 11-5, 2-11, 11-6, 11-8
(33m)
[4] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt Elijah Thomas (NZL) 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (32m)
Jakub Solnicky (CZE) bt [7] Valentin Rapp (GER) 9-11, 11-4, 11-2, 8-11,
11-5 (64m)
[5] Robin Gadola (SUI) bt Nilo Vidal (ESP) 6-11, 10-12, 11-6, 14-12,
11-5 (62m)
Aqeel Rehman (AUT) bt [2] Yannik Omlor (GER) 11-8, 11-6, 13-11 (32m) |
Round 1
Herbert Downs Gadola To Claim Title
Simon Herbert (right) and Robin Gadola (left) at the
prizegiving ceremony for the Mozart Open
England’s Simon Herbert secured his first title of the 2022-2023
campaign, beating Switzerland’s Robin Gadola in the final of the Mozart
Open in Austria.
The Challenger 5 level tournament featured both a men’s and women’s
event, with Torrie Malik claiming the women’s crown last week. Herbert
made it double delight for England at the Europark Shopping Centre in
Salzburg by taking the title on Saturday afternoon.
The Englishman came into the tournament as the top seed, and came
through the majority of the competition with flying colours. He started
his week with a confident performance against Ondrej Vorlicek of the
Czech Republic. That was then followed by another straight games
victory, this time against compatriot Robert Downer.
The semi-finals saw Herbert’s toughest test. He had to go the distance
to defeat 2019 champion Miko Aijanen. The Finn fought back from behind
twice to send the match into a deciding game, but Herbert was able to
fight through. He took the fifth on a tie-break, 12-10, to move through
to the final in Salzburg.
The Englishman then came up against Switzerland’s Robin Gadola in the
final on Saturday afternoon. The pair had met once before on Tour, with
Herbert winning 3-2 in the second round of the 3rd Silvester Trophy last
year. He went on to take the title there as well. This contest in
Salzburg was much more straight forward for the tournament’s top seed,
as he won 12-10, 11-7, 11-9 to secure his third Tour title.
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Preview
Simon Herbert, pictured here at the British Open in 2022,
will be the top seed this week in Austria
The men’s event at the Mozart Open takes place this week in Salzburg,
and England’s Simon Herbert will be the top seed for the first time in
his career.
The Challenger 5 level competition saw Englishwoman Torrie Malik win her
fourth career crown last week. The men’s event takes place this week at
the same venue, the Europark Shopping Centre in Salzburg, Austria.
England’s Herbert will be the top seed for the tournament, a position he
has not been in before. However, he is going in with the same mindset,
and he believes that it is about time he took some more silverware on
Tour.
“This will be the first tournament I will top seed. I feel my
preparation can’t change much. I just need to be prepared to have some
tough matches. The pressure of being top seed is there but I believe I
can handle it and push on,” he explained.
“I feel my form is up and down all the time over the last year. I have
worked on becoming more consistent with results and I feel I am playing
well. I would say I’m in the best shape I have ever been in.
“It is time for me to get another title definitely. I have a good
feeling about the tournament. With it being on a glass court, you never
know what can happen, but I believe if I get stuck in, I can win. I will
definitely have some hard matches as the draw is full of quality
players, so I will need to bring consistency to Austria.”
The Englishman reached a career-high of World No.77 earlier this month,
and he is looking to keep that rise up the rankings going, to reach the
next level in the near future.
“I am very pleased with the progression I have had with my ranking. I
have very high expectations and I plan on hitting them; I hope to be in
the World Tour events by the start of next season. These are the goals I
have set with my coaches [Chris Ryder and Jon Tate]. They are definitely
putting a lot of time in with me and I believe I’ll reach top 50 by the
end of the year.”
Herbert will be the top seed this week, with Germany’s Yannik Omlor,
Israeli No.1 Daniel Poleshchuk and Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi as the
other members of the world’s top 100 in action. The latter was the
runner-up at this competition last year He will be aiming to go one
better this time round in Salzburg.
Robin Gadola will be the second Swiss player in the top five seeds.
Colombia’s Andres Herrera, German Valentin Rapp and Englishman Robert
Downer making up the rest of the top eight seeds.
Austrian No.1 Aqeel Rehman will be the only home hope in the draw, while
Italian Yuri Farneti, Finland’s Miko Aijanen, Spain’s Marc Lopez and New
Zealand’s Elijah Thomas will all be their nation’s only representative
in the tournament. Liechtenstein’s David Maier will be the wildcard this
week in Salzburg.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
PSAChallengerTourLivestreams,
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram
&
TikTok. Selected
events will also be streamed live on
SQUASHTV.
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