Tennis: Krawietz loses final in match tiebreak

Brose-backed tennis player Kevin Krawietz and his Romanian doubles partner Horia Tecău fell just short in the final of the Hamburg Open. With 3:6, 7:6 (7:3) and 8:10 the German-Romanian duo lost to Tim Pütz and Michael Venus. Together with Tim Pütz, Kevin Krawietz will enter the doubles competition at the Olympic Games in Tokyo starting on July 24.

Krawietz/Tecău had won all their matches, including the semifinals, in convincing fashion in just two sets each. The two lacked this sovereignty in the first set. Krawietz/Tecău hardly found their game and had to give up the set already after 30 minutes with 3:6. The second set was also dominated by Pütz/Venus before the experienced German-Romanian doubles started the comeback at 1:5. The match went into a set tiebreak at 5:5, which Krawietz/Tecău managed to secure with a commanding 7:3.

Pütz/Venus had the better start in the decisive match tiebreak. Krawietz/Tecău then converted the 0:3 gap into a 6:6 before their opponents added another 3 points. Of the resulting three match points, Krawietz/Tecău only managed to defend the first two, meaning Kevin narrowly missed out on his third ATP triumph of the year.

Immediately afterwards, Kevin will head to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where he will join up with Tim Pütz in the doubles competition. "The Olympics is an absolute dream. It is a great honor for me to wear the eagle on my chest. It's extremely nice." We're keeping our fingers crossed for the two of them.

Krawietz/Tecău will play all other tournaments together until the end of the year, including the US Open. The target is the ATP Finals in Turin in November. "We still have chances for Turin, we want to keep them. With the US Open and a couple more ATP tournaments, there are still a lot of points up for grabs," Krawietz said. With title wins from Munich (BMW Open) and at the Halle Open on June 20 in the bag, qualification is definitely still possible.