The European Seniors Open has long been established as one of the biggest events in world tennis in terms of the number of participants, and the 2013 edition was no exception as 589 players from 30 countries descended on the picturesque Austrian town of Seefeld for the 37th edition of the tournament, which is played on indoor carpet courts.
With 22 different age categories in action, the event is divided into two weeks, with the first half of the tournament seeing the super seniors take centre stage. Germany’s Wolfram Schmidle claimed the first of the titles, winning a highly competitive Men’s 65 event, with a straight sets victory over second seed Vladimir Lacina (CZE).
In the same as week as being named Player of the Year for a record 13th time, Peter Pokorny added to his incredible tally of 34 European titles by beating Heinz Kleinemas (GER) in the final of the Men’s 70s event for the loss of just one game. The victory is the Austrian’s 24th title in Seefeld throughout his long seniors career.
Sweden’s Rolf Westman claimed the Men’s 75s title, recovering from the loss of the first set to outlast Klaus Haas (GER) 4-6 6-2 6-4. Sven Pewe just failed to make it two titles for Sweden, finishing as runner-up in the Men’s 80s event for a second year with a loss to Wim Heeremans of the Netherlands. Meanwhile, in a reversal of last year’s final result, Player of the Year Angelo Sala (ITA) beat Michael Novik (RUS) to claim the Men’s 85s title.
On the women’s side, Heidi Eisterlehner of Germany stormed to her 12th Seefeld title, conceding just nine games in four matches on her way to claiming the Womens 60s crown, beating German compatriot Monika Quirmbach in the final. The 65s tournament also saw an all-German final, with top seeded Alena Klein beating Silvia Bauwens 6-2 7-6(4).
Michele Bichon of France had no trouble in claiming the 70s title, ousting top seed Jacqueline Boothman (GBR) in the semi-finals and second seed Szofia Garaguly (AUT) in the final, both in straight sets.
The 75s event saw another all German final, with Elisabeth van Boemmel beating defending champion Brigitte Jung 6-4 6-1. Magdalena Jauch (GER) beat Erzsebet Szentirmay (HUN) in the final of the 80s event for a second consecutive year, securing a hat trick of titles in the process.
The second week saw the younger age groups take the spotlight, with several new names joining the list of Seefeld winners. Sixth seed Thomas Schiessling flew the home flag in the Men’s 35s event, beating Matthias Mueller of Germany 6-2 6-3 for the title. Another Austrian, Clemens Weinhandl, claimed the 40s title, with a 6-4 6-4 win over Sweden’s defending champion Jorgen Arberg.
The 45s event saw an al-Italian final for a second consecutive year, though the names were different this year as top seed and Player of the Year Luca Vigani defeated Simone Vismara. The top seed also emerged victorious in the 50s competition, where Alan Moracchini (FRA) outlasted Christer Lundberg (SWE) 3-6 6-2 7-5.
Alan Rasmussen of Denmark successfully defended his 55s title, coming from behind to beat second seed and European Champion Joakim Berner of Finland 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2. The ever-popular Mens 60s event also produced a repeat winner as Lubomir Petrov of Germany defended his title in style, coming through without the loss of a set, though he benefitted from an injury that forced final opponent Josef Baumgartner (GER) to retire when trailing 1-6 0-2.
The women’s 35s and 40s tournaments took the form of round robin events, with Stefanie Kolar (GER) and Helena Vildova (CZE) the respective winners, Vildova winning for a second successive year. A previous winner of the 40s event, Natalia Harina-Beckmann, took this year’s 45s title after winning an all-German final 7-5 6-4 over Olga Shaposhnikova.
Austria’s Ingrid Gutmann-Resch made it a hat trick of 50s titles as she withstood a second set fightback to beat the reigning European champion Liselot Prechtel-Koot of the Netherlands 6-2 3-6 6-2, while Renata Tomanova also defended her 2012 crown, scoring a 6-2 6-4 win over fellow German Sabine Schmitz in the final of the 55s event.
Full draws and results from the super seniors event can be found on the ITF website here, with week 2 results here. Click here for a photo gallery from the tournament.