News

2008-09-21 15:10

The last day: Pekao Open 2008 is over

The big wide smile, French accent and one goal from the first round till the match-ball of the final: "To win". Florent Serra is one week closer to achieve his goal - come back to the world top 30. He started his long walk couple of weeks ago, and came here with a strong will to win: "My goal is to come back to the top 50, and then to the top 30, I used to be there some years ago". This was the first message for the press, that was sent by the smiled Frenchman. Since than he had to struggle in every single match. Frenchman Moncourt, Dawid Olejniczak and David Koeller [re5pect] - Monsieur Serra had to fight each of them in a three set thrillers. "I had a great time here. The matches that I played were tough one by one. Only my last victory over Jerzy Janowicz was a two set match, before I had to fight for every single round of this great tournament. Albert Montanes had exactly opposite situation, he got to the semi-final easily, but had to face Lukasz Kubot to play for the final. Seems to me, that this second semi was a bit more intense than mine. Today I played a very difficult match. As I told you before - my opponent's serve is a tricky one. You never know where the ball is gonna hit... I was lucky to break him early in the first set". The first edition of Szczecin Challenger with two Polish semi-finalists is over. We have a group of youngsters, playing under the Polish flag and winning the matches. That's not typical, however we have a young hitman Jerzy Janowicz, a silent warrior Lukasz Kubot, the reasonable doubles winner Dawid Olejniczak, fast and furious Marcin Gawron and a mystery of the future - The Polish Juniors Champion - Rafał Gozdur. We hope for the last one to join the group next year, but this is the melody of the Pekao Open 2009, that is just about to begin.

2008-09-20 22:03

The sixth day: will the history change tomorrow?

The second of Spanish Alberts in the tournament - Senior Montantes - finished a thrilling streak of Lukasz Kubot's spanish triumphs at Pekao Open. The best of Polish tennis players closed the first set of his semi-final beating Montanes 6:3. But it wasn't enough. The top seeded Spaniard took the revenge in the second with 6:1. The real fight begun it the third - Kubot broke the point and started strong with 2:0. But it was it. The top seeded Pole wasn't able to keep the focus, he lost couple of straight games and the whole match: 3:6, 6:1, 6:4. "I think, that I'm playing very good in this tournament. Until today I didn't loose a single set. That's not too bad" said Montanes during the press conference. In another semi-final Jerzy Janowicz had to face Florent Serra. The Frenchman knew how to use the amazing strength on Mr Janowicz's serve against him. Serra didn't give the young Pole too many chances to play in tomorrow final. Monsieur Serra won 6:1, 6:2, and promised to fight for a win tomorrow. As the tournament closes to an end - we do have only number one and number two seeded players in the draw left. There is a little curse at Szczecin Pekao Open - never in history of this event a Spanish player won the trophy. Will the history change tomorrow? We'll find out at high noon.

2008-09-19 21:17

The fifth day: The Serving Machine against the rook that was not fast enough

We do not have to many opportunities to present the future of Polish tennis on international scene. As we found out, the over 50% of our website visitors come from outside Poland, so let's try this time - we do have the Polish semi-finals... Lukasz Kubot came out on the centre court at 3 p.m. His vis a vis was Alberto Martin, patient clay court veteran from Spain. Kubot was having some hard time in a first set, but finally beat Spaniard 7:5, 6:3. "I was afraid of this duel. Albert gave me a lesson here in second round some time ago. I think, that I've done my homework - we didn't play too many rallies, I was trying to hit two or three times and finish the ball as soon as possible. It paid off, I think that I deserved that semi-final". He'll meet another Albert from Spain, Senior Montanes, who won his match against Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Polish surname, Polish origin, born in beautiful Buenos Aires, representing Argentina) in two sets 6:4, 6:2.

On the other side of the draw our favourite mental terrorist Daniel Koellerer [re5pect] didn't manage to put out of balance Florent Serra from France. "Daniel is a difficult player, you cannot deconcentrate even for a second, playing against him and it happens sometimes to me - I'm lucky that it wasn't this time. I lost the first set, but second was mine. In the third I felt that this is my time". His tomorrow opponent will be Jerzy Janowicz, eighteen years old, 2 meters high serving machine. As the speaker of the tournament Mr Karol Stopa said - a kind of future Polish Ivo Karlovic. We do agree, but he was having really tough match against Marcin Gawron (in English gawron means rook). Rook is a fast bird, so was Marcin, but wasn't fast enough to beat Jerzy, whose serving speed record is 231km/h. Janowicz won in two sets 7:6 [4], 6:4. Marcin and Jerzy attended the post match press briefing and promised to play again here on the centre court next time. Mr Gawron hopes that he's gonna be the winner that day. We've got two Polish matches tomorrow, Szczecin is a city close to capital of Germany. Those semi-finals are worth buying the last minute ticket to Berlin and taking a train or bus to Szczecin. Pekao Open starts tomorrow at 3 pm. See you at the centre court.

2008-09-18 22:08

The fourth day: so we are in quarterfinals...

Bohdan Ulihrach, one of good old veterans of Pekao Open in Szczecin had to face one of the young guns of Polish tennis. Jerzy Janowicz, the troublemaker who sent off number 7 of the tournament Jiri Vanek earlier in the tournament: "I learned a lesson today not to underestimate the veterans. He was running as if he was my age". Indeed, when Ulichrach was partying at his 18th birthday - Janowicz was 3 years old. During the previous edition of Pekao Open Ulihrach was talking about finishing his career. The lesson, that Czech player gave Polish gifted young man might be one of the last things that Bohdan gave to the Szczecin challenger. He was playing very well in first set, but he lost it. We hope to see Ulihrach again next year, but the 2nd round duel lost to Janowicz could be one of his last appearances in the tour. "This is the biggest success in my career. I do want to feel it again" said Janowicz, and signed an autograph on the press conference room wall with a wide Internet smiley :)

There are three Polish players in quarter finals, one foreigner with polish surname (Juan Pablo Brzezicki) and Alberto Martin - a Spaniard who (as we stated earlier) deserves Szczecin citizenship for his 11th appearance at Pekao Open. Marcin Gawron, another Polish wild card holder played a three set horror against Artem Smirnov. He won, and put his autograph on the wall next to Janowicz's. In a long history of Pekao Open we didn't see so many our players in the draw that late in the tournament. "I'm so tired... I need to take a rest it is only 17 hours to recover before another match, but I'm a happy man" said Gawron while coming back to the hotel.

2008-09-17 21:25

The third day: controled demolishion of Daniel Koellerer

Look at me! I've got tattoos all over my body! I am not normal at all, so you shouldn't expect me to act and win normally said after his thrilling match Daniel Koellerer. It was a really wild match: When Hernych was serving for the match in the second set I packed my racquet, my towel and my stuff - the match was over to me. Of course I knew that Jan saw me doing this. It seemed to me that this kind of behaviour may deconcentrate my opponent. This psychological trick paid off., and Austrian player won the second set 7:5, and the following - third one 6:1. About a year ago my court behaviour was a pure madness. Today, thanks to my new mental coach this wildness is totally controlled. This is one of my deadly weapons. I didn't feel fine with the umpire decisions today, I was quiet and calm in the first set, but I was warned by the Referee anyway.

The spectators were waiting for the duel of Florent Serra and Dawid Olejniczak, Serra lost only second set of his duel and sent the second best polish player Dawid Olejniczak back home. Łukasz Kubot finished his job earlier with only one set of real fight 6:7(4). His next opponent is going to be Alberto Martin, a Spaniard, who deserves Szczecin citizenship for his 11th visit at Pekao Open.

2008-09-16 21:12

The second day: Polish sinking fleet and the Frenchman willing to win

The second day of Pekao Open in Szczecin was a follow-up of yesterday Poles' domination. For the first time in history of this event, and probably for the first time in history of polish professional tennis tournaments, we do have a chance of watching top polish players in the second round of the tournament's main draw. Funny as for the last year of short life of the first professional tennis team: PZT Prokom. As the general business idea of the owner changed - the players showed some real tennis talent, and what was the most surprising - mental strength, that we hardly ever see on polish tennis courts. Marcin Gawron managed to beat his opponent in three sets:The first set was a kind of pre-fight. I didn't really know what to expect, but when I felt that victory is in my reach I decided to grab it. And I did it. Most of polish players, who win the matches in the Szczecin first round do not have any specific plans for the future. Last of today's polish winners - Jerzy Janowicz told the journalists, that his only plan is to play better and better tennis This is the best way to find some sponsors and additional money for this business. Frenchman Florent Serra showed some self confidence not only on the centre court, but during his interviews too. I do have a big chance of coming back close to the world top 50, if I win here I'm gonna get somewhere around 53rd position. This is the ranking position I was trying to reach for last two years. I'm want to win here and finish this season, get some rest and come back to fight for the first 30 next year told Serra during post-match press briefing. He made another step today, beating his countryman Mathieu Montcourt 5:7, 6:4, 6:2. In the next round he's gonna meet polish player Dawid Olejniczak, who was having a day off today. As Olejniczak told the press yesterday: It's much better to play against better players. Looking forward to this second round duel.

2008-09-15 22:06

The first day: sunny day of tough guys

During the freezing and shiny afternoon of the first day of Pekao Open we had some thrilling matches and a couple of surprises. We have two Poles in the second round, and good old friend from Spain, Alberto Martin, who came to Szczecin for the 11th time in his career. Both - the spectators and the journalists didn't expect such a successful first round for Łukasz Kubot and Dawid Olejniczak. The top ranked polish tennis player - Kubot didn't give a chance to David Marero (ESP) and won both sets easily 6:3 and 6:2. During the press conference he said: "I was willing to win this time. We had a tough match couple of weeks ago on Lanzarote, and I lost it. That day I felt that I was able to win, but I didn't manage to do it. This time I wanted to take the opportunity. Break points in early moments of both sets gave me some confidence, and I didn't loose it till the match point". His next opponent is Oscar Hernandez, who won his 1st round match against Pawel Snobel (CZE) in two sets, and found some time to talk to journalists about his sore elbow and beautiful girls walking around the tournament site. Señor Hernandez is willing to stay in Szczecin as long as possible, so do we. Second polish tennis player Dawid Olejniczak played his match in the early evening. "Well I'm never going to be Rafael Nadal, but I feel I was running really good today. I think that, what I showed today on centre court was pretty close to my best tennis. It is definitely my best match since the Wimbledon qualifications this year. It was a very fast match, I don't think that we were sitting on the bench for more than a minute during the whole match, it was cold, and we didn't play any long rallies. We both tried to finish this match as soon as possible. I think that this style of play was more convenient for me. I'm a tough guy, so I'd like to meet the higher seeded player in the second round. It means that I hope to play Florent Serra, and hope to play as good as I can during the next match". We are tough too, but we do hope that it is going to be a bit warmer tomorrow. See you in Szczecin.