Doha After reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals and a three-week tournament break, Philip Oswald (35) of Dornbirn and his doubles partner Marcus Daniel, who was four years younger than him, confirmed their upward trend in the ATP. 250 Tennis Championships in Doha. After their successes against the top teams at the $ 890,000 hard-court event in Qatar, the Austrian-New Zealand duo had to face the Russians Aslan Karazio (27) and after 1:20 hours of playing in an eye-level duel after 1:20 hours of Andrei playing Rublew (23) to be beaten.

In the opening set, Oswald / Daniel pulled back after a 1: 4 break, but made a 5: 5 draw with Rebreak before the Russians could use the third set ball to break again after 45 minutes and win the set 7: 5.

In the second round, in which the Russians began serving again, the level game continued. In the end, it was Oswald, who had previously played his five matches without any problems, who had to accept the break to make it 4: 6. “The decisive factor was that they played ten out of 11, and we only managed seven of the 11 service games. So, five hit, we paid three aces and three of us and only made a double foul. In such a close match, these are precisely the factors that decide whether you win or lose, “Oswald said.

Despite losing the double twelfth title on the ATP World Tour of his career, the man from Dornbirn was not dissatisfied with the performance in Doha. “We defeated the winners at the Australian Open in the opening round with Evan Dodig / Philip Polasic (Crewe / CFC) and world number one in the semifinals with Juan Sebastian Caballe / Robert Farah (Colonel). Confirming ourselves against such big teams clearly shows that Marcus and I are on the right track, “Oswald stresses.

As of Monday, the duo, 37 (Oswald) and 41 (Danielle), will be on the ATP 500 in Dubai.

In the singles semi-final in Donna, Fatih Tim Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain defeated Roblio 6: 3, 6: 3 and Georgian Nikolaus Basilashvili kept 7: 6 (3), 6: 1 against Taylor Fritz (USA).