Bichler finished the season with his greatest success in 2023

The four-week tour of Asia at the beginning of December brought David Pichler his biggest singles success of the season so far. The 27-year-old was only stopped in the final of the ITF M25 hard court tournament in Kalaburagi on Sunday early morning after CET. Seventh-seeded Burgenlander (ATP 695) lost in the title fight to fifth-seeded Indian domestic champion Ramkumar Ramanathan (ATP 638) after about 64 minutes of play by scores of 2:6, 1:6. Pichler was only able to hold up well in both sets at the start ahead of the former world number 111. Ramanathan showed his class. For the ÖTV ace, a fourth and biggest international men’s singles title to date (after three victories in the US$15,000 tournament in Kiseljak in 2017 and in Heraklion in 2019 and 2022) should not work out for now, despite the week of the tournament The strong one. Also in doubles, Bichler and Indian Nitin Kumar Sinha reached the final with three victories in two sets, narrowly missing out on 46th place with scores of 4:6, 6:2 and 7:10 in the tie-break against Japanese Ryuki. Matsuda and Ryutaro Taguchi won the international doubles title in their career.

In singles, Bechler has also remained without dropping a set in four previous matches. Only Ramanathan, who is currently at his best and has now won three ITF M25 events in India in a row and scored a M15 semi-final between them, has proven too strong for him. “Very good. Respect!” Pichler told the 29-year-old on social media. But the 27-year-old Stefan Hearn protégé can take stock of this week with relief, as he finally reached the final for the first time after reaching the semi-finals For the third time this season. However, he has only managed to reach the previous two semi-finals in ITF M15 events, and thus both received just four ATP points. On the other hand, the performance in Kalaburagi is reflected in 16 points and will mean an improvement He was up about 60 places in the world rankings on December 11. Pichler’s best position to date was No. 390 on October 16, 2017. In doubles, the finale of his 10th season would put him back in the top 300 of the ATP Rankings, to a ranking of about 285. He has his previous career here in November 2022 at 218th place he reached the highest level.

Sorger in Limassol with another semi-finalist

But Bichler wasn’t the only one who impressed at the ITF Men’s Championships last week. Sebastian Sorger, for example, should score his fifth semifinal round of the year and at the same time in his young career at the ITF M15 hardcourt event in Limassol, Cyprus. Fifth-seeded Styria (ATP 742) defeated Dutch qualifiers Tuan van Zijl (ATP 1296) and Jurjan Paul (ATP 1224) 6:3, 6:0 and 5:7, 6:3, 6:3, respectively, before also managing to eliminate the seed. Third Ukrainian Oleg Prihodko (ATP 703) 6:1, 6:3. And only in the battle to reach his second final, he lost 3:6, 4:6 to Briton Milne Hurrion (ATP 876), who finished in seventh place. Jonas Trinker (ATP 1075) was eliminated in the first round by Paul 7:6 (6), 5:7, 2:6, but managed to reach the semi-finals in the doubles competition with Swede Henrik Bladelius.