Gremelmayr to meet Maggi in final

By Kalyan Ashok

JORHAT, JAN. 12. The big hitting German, Denis Gremelmayr set up a title clash with Fabio Maggi of Italy in the $ 10,000 ITF Futures tennis championship at the Jorhat Tennis Club here on Friday. Gremalmayr, ranked 626, played way above his league, to overpower the Austrian, Andreas Fasching 6-3, 6-1 in the first semifinal in about 80 minutes. In the other semifinal, a crafty Maggi quelled a late challenge from the sixth seed, Vincent Allegre of France to win 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), also in 80 minutes.

Fasching's strength has been his all-court game but today he was hustled all around the court by Gremelmayr, who kept blasting winners with his big forehand. The German, who had won a Futures title in Japan last season, was quick on his feet and came up with some fierce groundstrokes and also made effective use of drop volleys to unsettle a harried Fasching.

Gremelmayr got off to a great start, breaking Fasching in the second and fourth games, and held his serve for a commanding 5-0 lead. Fasching, looking unbelievingly at the scoreboard, began to work on his returns. He held serve in the sixth game and then broke Gremelmayr when the German put two returns wide and hammered another one out.

Fasching seemed to be on a road to recovery as he hung on to his serve in the eighth game to narrow the gap 3-5. But he failed to sustain his drive, by rushing the strokes and sprayed a couple of returns out, to drop the serve and set at 3-6.

Once again a familiar script unfolded in the second set as Gremelmayr, jumped to a 4-0 lead with a double break in the first and third games. Fasching had really run into rough- weather at this stage, making two crucial double faults, including one on the break point in the third game. Gremelmayr, too began showing cracks, as he was hard put to hold the serve in the fourth game, where he made two double faults.

Another big test for him came in the sixth game, where he was pushed to deuce four times by a fighting Fasching, who gave all that he got with a sustained onslaught. But he was just unlucky - netting a return and playing another long, which saw Gremelmayr hold his serve after a real testing time.

Fasching looked utterly disappointed with that and simply caved in the seventh game to drop the serve, which virtually sealed his fate in the match.

``I am just pleased with the way things are turning out for me in this tournament. I had couple of tough ties earlier and I was able to really go for my strokes today'', said Gremelmayr.

But the German surely has a fight on hand on Saturday against Maggi, who stopped the sixth seed, Allegre with a tactical play. He kept a sharp pace and hit lot of high balls to have the Frenchman on the run.

Allegre, after 1-6 whipping in the first set, got back strongly in the second set. He broke Maggi in the first and seventh games, after Maggi had taken a 4-2 lead with breaks in the second and sixth games. With both of them holding serves, till five all, the tie reached an interesting climax.

In the 12th game, Maggi forced a break and match point after Allegre sliced into the net. But he let that chance slip by netting a forehand. Two more mishits by Maggi saw Allegre save the game and the tie spilled into tie-breaker.

The tie-break too was a tight one as Maggi's early lead of 4-1 was slashed by Allegre, who caught up at 4-all, and the latter went ahead at 5-4 with Maggi putting a forehand volley away. But Allegre, playing two high balls, netted two successive returns, to put Maggi back in saddle.

The Italian, who also had the service advantage, then forced Allegre to hit one wide to grab the set and match. ``Well, I had my chances in the second set, but I failed to keep the pace with him,'' said Allegre.

Maggi was euphoric about the verdict. ``Great way to start 2001 season by playing into the final. I was getting tired in the second set, but managed to hang on. I look forward to a good tie on Saturday and though I have not played Gremelmayr before, he is a good player and it should a good match.''

lThe results:

Singles (semifinals): Fabio Maggi (Ita) bt Vincent Allegre (Frn) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) bt Andreas Fasching (Aut) 6-3, 6-1.

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