While most teams competing in the men’s qualifier of the A1 Major Vienna were playing their first matches at the Danube Island on Tuesday, Tobias Winter and Julian Hörl weren’t - and the Austrians took full advantage of it to get one step closer to a main draw spot in their home sand.
After winning a country-quota match against compatriots Felix Friedl and Simon Frühbauer on Monday, the Austrians returned to the courts for the first round of the qualifier and secured a 21-19, 21-14 victory over Germans Philipp Bergmann and Yannick Harms.
Now they are set to play their third match in as many days on Wednesday, when they face Americans Reid Priddy and Theo Brunner, who eliminated their compatriots Peter Eglseer and Florian Schnetzer, with a main draw spot on the line.
“I think this system actually helped us,” Hörl said. “We got here from Tokyo on Saturday and the jet lag was a problem, but playing before everyone else has put us in a good rhythm already. And having only one match each day has also been good because it gives us a chance to rest and prepare.”
The Austrians fed off the home crowd support to down the Germans after nearly losing the first set.
“We were down 18-16 in the first set, but made some adjustments which worked and managed to win it,” the blocker added. “In the second one our blocking and defense was good from the start and that led us to a smoother victory. It was nice to see so many people supporting us on the side courts here.”
Another Austrian team is still in contention to qualify to the main draw in Vienna as Alexander Huber and Christoph Dressler also advanced to the second round following a 21-17, 21-15 win over Estonia’s Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar. Their next opponents will be Canadians Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter.
