Stage is set for the grand finale of the ITF Belgaum open at the VTU Tennis complex between two players who seem to be playing their best Tennis at the end of three grueling weeks in Karnataka. 8th seed Michael Shabaz from USA & qualifier from Germany Torsten Wietoska will lock horns for the crown.
Top seed Sriram Balaji’s run was stopped by 6th seed American Michael Shabaz in the Semifinals where as unseeded qualifier from Germany Torsten Wietoska continued his dream run in Karnataka.
Michael Shabaz took 1 hr 19 min to dispose off the top seed Balaji 6-2, 7-5. Balaji was able to hold his serves only twice in the first set but got broken in the 3d & 9th games to let the first set go at 2-6 in 35 min. The second set was also similar with Shabaz breaking Balaji in the first game. Balaji had break points only in the 6th game of the second set when Shabaz was serving 0-40 Shabaz but the latter served 4 aces to hold the game. Balaji tried hard to stay in the match by breaking Shabaz in the 9th game and was back in the set. Balaji played a poor 11th game with weak serves when he lost the game without winning a point. Same story in the next service game of Shabaz too and the latter closing out the match. The rallies were long but most of the time Shabaz had the upper hand mainly due to a much higher fitness level.
In the second match of the day, German Torsten Wietoska continued his fine run to reach his first final in three weeks stopping the run of giant killer Andre Gasper Murta of Portugese in two tie break sets. A match that saw hard hitting shots and long rallies lasted 125 min, The first set was close until the tie break but Torsten subdued his inexperienced by raising his game and winning the it with loss of just 3 points. There was a service break for each in the first set. The second set, didn’t have any breaks and the German won the tie break with a loss of 5 points. Wietoska who came through the qualifying rounds, had earlier reached semi finals at Davangere when he lost to eventual winner Sanam singh and at Dharwad when he lost a close match to Ramkumar Ramanathan.
“Its been a great tour and I’m enjoying the Karnataka circuit. It was a tough match and Murta played very well. I’m looking for a good match tomorrow in the finals. Shabaz is a good player and I need to recover well today to play my best which I’m hoping to.”
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Semi Finals
- Torsten Wietoska (Ger) bt Andre Gasper Murta (Por)
- S-6 Michael shabaz (USA) bt S-1 Sriram Balaji
Doubles finals match at 3.30 pm… results shall follow……….
Schedule for Sat, 22 Dec, 2012:
Starting at 11.00 am
Singles Finals
S-6 Michael Shabaz (USA) VS Torsten Wietoska (Ger)