Zurich August 2008 (Masters)



The tournament in Zurich is a Masters Tournament: which means players earn double ranking points. I was not seeded for this tournament by the way: the points from the Sutton tournament did not count.
Because of rain, the first round matches were played indoors, and all preliminary matches were played in supersets: the first one to win 8 games, wins the match.

This is my first round opponent, Alex, who I played against in Sutton in 2007 as well:

Result: I won 8-2.

Quarter Final, against Erwin, who beat me in Barcelona:






Well, you can guess who won:

Result: 8-6!

Semi final match against Michel:









Result: 6-3, 6-0.

So, another final! And I played William in the final, who also happened to be my doubles' partner:



First round, which is the Quarter Final, is going well, as you see:





Result: we won 9-7. My first ever doubles' match I won!

Together with Paul and Martin, after our Semi Final match:

Result: lost 4-8.

And here are photos and videos of -yet another- final in D singles, against William:










Look at the score: yes, it is correct. I was 0-5 down in the first set.


























A little break: Tommy, Alex' boyfriend, sitting between Willam and me:




I am the WINNER of D-singles!
In a nailbiting 5 hour final, I held my nerves and made a dramatic come back, to win it in the end:
First set: 0-6, but every game went over deuce. I just forgot to make crucial points.
Second set: I had a matchpoint against at 3-5, but I came back to win it in the tie-break 9-7!
Third and final set: I was 2-5 down and I came back to win it in 7-5!

It was the longest ever final in the history of the Zurich tournament, and one of the longest finals ever in GLTA.

This is the award ceremony, especially for D-singles: by the time our final had finished, nearly everyone had gone by then.







My first ever tournament victory! Look at the beautiful trophy:


Results in D-singles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=20353&draw=5


Results in D doubles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=20353&draw=13


My stats for this tournament:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=6B18795B-2B73-40C5-B0FB-6274169A25B5&player=10


And finally, the list of winners: scroll down. :-)

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=20353

I want to thank everyone who supported me in this tournament.
Especially the people who made these pictures and videos: Paul, Alex, Nigel, Steve, Michel.


In October 2008, my name and my epic final appeared in the newsletter of Gaysport.ch:

Manchen Spielern gefiel das Zurich
Rainbow Open so sehr, dass sie
fast nicht mehr aufhören wollten
zu spielen. Der Final der Kategorie
D Einzel begann am Sonntagnachmittag
um 13.30 Uhr und endete
sage und schreibe 298 Minuten
später! Inzwischen war die Siegerzeremonie
vorbei (Schweizer Siege
gab es in den Kategorien Open
Einzel und Doppel, A Einzel und D
Doppel durch Eric Vienne, Ralph
Schoen/Eric Vienne, Tezcan Llinares
sowie Erwin Kuilema/Christian
Kuster). Das OK harrte aber tapfer
aus und feierte den Sieger Peter
de Bruyni aus Holland gebührend.
Dieser verkündete nach getaner
Arbeit überglücklich seinen Sieg
per Telefon nach Hause und sprintete
Richtung Tram.