Benoit Paire moves into final as Andreas Haider-Maurer retires – Salzburg Challenger 2011
French Benoit Paire moves into the final of Salzburg Challenger tournament contested in Hard, Rebound ace, Austria. On Saturday November 19th, local boy Andreas Haider-Maurer hurt his lower back once again and couldn’t
continue the match. His retirement was the big disappointment for the local fans who loved his quarter-final performance as he defeated the second seed Nicolas Mahut to make into the last four. The match had just lasted for an hour before local boy had to
retire at the score of 6-2, 3-0 in his competitor’s favour.
Haider-Maurer was struggling since the start of the match and was not able to play his natural game as his movements were restricted due to back pain. He tried his level best to fight this injury and complete this match but his
first set performance and then second set worse start coupled with his increased back pain forced him out of the game. Crowd was extremely disappointed but at the same time felt sorry for their local boy who has been struggling from this chronic lower back
injury for months.
Previously eighth seed Haider-Maurer retired from Winston Salem Challenger, Brasov Challenger and Palermo Challenger for the same reason. He looked fit as he was cruising throughout the tournament but unfortunately had to say goodbye
to his challenger title dream on Saturday.
Match started off in great fashion but soon after the first serve game from the local boy he started to feel strain in his lower back and his game was massively affected by that. He wasn’t able to reach out for slightly difficult
shots and couldn’t stretch himself as well as it placed a lot of pressure on his back.
Paire broke his opponent’s serve in the first game and continued his domination; took advantage of his rival’s shortcomings and played corner to corner shots that totally dismantled the confidence of eighth seeded Haider-Maurer.
Fifth seed hammered six aces in the first set compared to just one from his opponent. He broke again in the seventh game of the first set and sealed the set with in commanding fashion. Local took treatment from his physio in the
break and felt that he could continue. But the start said it all and his serve was again broken in the first game.
Third game he felt so much pressure that he couldn’t serve properly as well and double-faulted twice. Unwillingly he had to retire because his efforts to continue the match would have only hurt his back further.
Benoit Paire squares-off against Grega Zemlja in the final.
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