After a quarter-final upset, the ÖTV national team lost in the semi-finals on the same day.
At the first stop of the Carinthian Ladies’ Lakes Trophy at Warmbud Villach on Friday afternoon, the last red-white-red hope of winning the women’s title had to say goodbye. Tamara Kostic (WTA 675) won her quarter-final against the former world number 59 in the morning 6:3, 6:3. Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea (WTA 919) shined. However, in the semi-finals of the ITF W35 clay court tournament at Sportpark Warmpad-Villac, the wild card Vienna was unable to match this performance and eventually lost to Italian qualifier Tatiana Pieri (WTA 443) after some close games with 2 scores: 6, 0:6. . Nevertheless, the 18-year-old, who reached her first final in this category last week in Yecla (Spain), is sure to make another leap up the world rankings. She will move below the top 600 in the WTA rankings for the first time on May 27, probably somewhere between 570 and 580.
Due to continuous rain on Thursday, the quarter-finals and semi-finals had to be held on the same day. But now the event has been rescheduled, starting at 10:00am on Saturday morning with the women’s singles final featuring Pirie and fifth-seeded Ukrainian Valeria Strakova (WTA 275) and the men’s final. In the concurrent men’s ITF M15 event, Swiss top seed Jerome Kim (ATP 478) and 16-year-old German qualifier Justin Engel (ATP 1237) battle it out for the title. The doubles competition was completed on Thursday indoors and on clay, and ended with 18-year-old Upper Austrian Niko Hipflin’s men’s premier victory alongside Kim. In women’s doubles, all finalists were decided simultaneously – and then Friday’s winners: second-ranked Aneta Kukmova (Czech Republic) and Nika Radicic (Slovenia) managed to hold their own against first-seeded Czech Karolina. Kubanova and Renata Vorakova with 6:1, 6:4.
