ÖTV: Burgenland Tennis Academy powered by Wilson: Rable ahead of his home victory

Leonie Rappel has so far achieved a victory in Seefeld in October 2022 and a final in Maria Lanzendorf in October 2023 at U18 international level, both in ITF J30 tournaments. Now the 16-year-old can follow up on her biggest success at the youth level to date: the Burgenland native reached the final at the ITF J60 hard court event at her home venue, the Burgenland Tennis Academy, powered by Wilson on Saturday. Rabel (ITF 1146), who received a wildcard for the main competition, beat 15-year-old Slovenian Ajla Senica (ITF 893) 6:7 ​​(5), 6:2, 6:0 in the semi-finals. On Sunday she will compete for her biggest international title at the Burgenland Tennis Academy at the TC Sport-Hotel-Kurz from 9.30am against fifth seed Karolina Krajmer of Slovakia (ITF 565). Parallel to the final day, qualifying for the second ITF Youth Championship begins from the same location, this time in the J30 category.

Rappel previously had Germany's Helene Sommer (ITF 1018) in 7:5, 6:4, and eighth seed, 15-year-old Polish Maja Pawlska (ITF 630) in 4:6, 6:1, 6:2, eliminated. Czech Vanessa Dobiasova, seeded fourth (ITF 527) with a score of 6:3 and 7:5. She finally managed to beat Seneca for the second time in the tournament after trailing by a set. Rabel, who trains at the ÖTV Südstadt Performance Centre, was the only young red, white and red talent to master the first main round this time around. The other two wildcard players, Stella Horacek and Leah Haider-Maurer, lost first, as did the finalists, Leah Sabadi and Emma Leitner. In doubles, Rabel was the only Austrian to reach the quarter-finals with Czech Amelie Brozova. The cup went to Sara Oliverišová (Czech Republic) and Kiara Šabkova (Czech Republic).

Among the boys, 14-year-old wild card Gabriel Niedermayer (ITF 1209) and Konstantin Neubauer (ITF 708), who is one year older, both made it to the last 16. Niklas Meislinger, seventh-place finisher Alexander Geschel, Jan Hemmitzberger, wildcard holders Felix Rasser, Julian Platzer and Maurice Noel Cassirer, as well as qualifier Timothée Bézarre, were eliminated in the first round. In the doubles competition, Meislinger/Platzer lost in the quarterfinals to eventual winners Adam Soukup (Czech Republic) and Sydney Zech (Germany) – as did Pizar and Timo Riberger to Hungarian top seeds and finalists David Baconi and Adam Jelley. Jelly (ITF 194) and Zeke (ITF 256), the number one and two seeds on the list, will also compete in the singles final against each other.