by Ian Marshall, Editor
Alongside Tomas Tregler, they were the Czech players who remained alive and kicking.
Tomas Tregler kept his aspirations alive by beating colleague, Jakub Kleprlik (11-3, 11-5, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8); the winner earlier in the day against England’s Andrew Baggaley (11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 3-11, 11-7).
Meanwhile, listed at no.289 on the current Men’s World Rankings, David Reitspies accounted for Austria’s Andreas Levenko, named at no.125 (11-5, 11-9, 11-5, 12-14, 11-8).
An impressive effort by David Reitspies but the performance that attracted the attention was the success recorded by Lubomir Jancarik when facing Sweden’s Truls Moregard. It was a contest which suggested that the Czech Republic player should win; he is listed at no.112 on the current Men’s World Ranking, the 16 year old Swede at no.275.
However, Truls Moregard, runner up in the Boys’ Singles event at both the 2017 World Junior Championships and the more recent 2018 European Youth Championships, is a young man hungry for success; he very nearly caused an upset. Lubomir Jancarik won but he needed the full seven games, only emerging successful by the very minimal margin in the decider (11-8, 14-12, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 8-11, 13-11).
“I think it was a great match. I prepared well. I know that although he is quite young he is very, very good. Somebody compared him with Jan-Ove Waldner and I think this is quite true. He has something special and he can be very good, so I’m really happy that I won this match. I think that I was quite unlucky, especially when I led three games to one and the score was 7-5. I had two net balls against me at that important moment. However, at the end, when he had a match point, I got lucky with a net ball. I think it was a good match for the spectators, I’m very happy that I won. It’s always a pleasure to play in front of a home crowd. I hope to be in the main draw when even more people will come watch.” Lubomir Jancarik
In the third preliminary round, play in the Men’s Singles qualification tournament being organised on a knock-out basis, Lubomir Jancarik faces another Swede, he confronts Jon Persson; Tomas Tregler opposes Austria’s Stefan Fegerl, David Reispies faces Frenchman Can Akkuzu.
The Men’s Singles qualification tournament comprises four rounds and concludes on Wednesday 22nd August.
