The German top doubles pairing of Kevin Krawietz/Tim Pütz has reached the second round of the doubles tournament at the 32nd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. KraPü won 6:3 and 6:4 against the Swedish-Dutch duo Andre Göransson and Sem Verbeek, permanent rivals this season. Their next opponent: the combination of Karen Khachanov and Alex Michelsen. It was the fourth meeting between the two doubles players this year. The record before Halle: victories for Krawietz/Pütz in Adelaide and Madrid, Göransson/Verbeek won the final in Munich.
The story of the Halle match is quickly told: In the first set, the Germans managed a break to 5:3 and capitalised on their first set point to make it 6:3. Krawietz/Pütz did not get into trouble with their own service. In the second set, the top seeds from Coburg and Frankfurt broke their opponents to 5:4, with Tim Pütz then serving out the match. Game, set and match for KraPü.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are the first semi-finalists in the doubles competition of the 32nd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. For the second time in the tournament, the Canadians presented themselves as the masters of the very close result. After beating Struff/Schönhaus 6:7, 7:6 and 10:8 in round one, the world-class singles players won 7:5, 4:6 and 10:8 against the Americans Christian Harrison and Evan King in the quarter-finals. Incidentally, Halle is the doubles premiere for Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov on the ATP Tour this year. For the third seeds Harrison and King, who are ranked 20th and 19th in the doubles world rankings, the tournament is over (too) early.
The defending champions Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori are also in the semi-finals. The Italians, seeded second in Halle, defeated the Americans Nathaniel Lammons/Jackson Withrow 7:6 and 6:2. It was really exciting in the tie-break of the first set. Bolelli/Vavassori won 12:10, but first had to fend off three set points from the US boys. Set two was a clear affair: the Italians had two break points, capitalised on them and converted the first match point to win 6-2. Bolelli/Vavassori will play Auger-Aliassime/Shapovalov in the semi-finals on Court 2 at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
