Jasika downed in Happy Valley final
After an impressive week, Omar Jasika has been defeated by German Peter Gojowczyk in his first ATP Challenger final in Happy Valley.
Adelaide SA, Australia, 8 January 2017 | David Packman
After an impressive run in Happy Valley, Omar Jasika has been defeated in his first ATP Challenger final on Sunday.
The teenage wildcard was never in the fight against Peter Gojowczyk, with the unseeded German taking the City of Onkaparinga Tennis Challenger title 6-3 6-1 in under an hour.
“Peter played an unbelievable match today and I really couldn’t do anything about it,” Jasika said. “I did my best to stay in there but sometimes you’ve just got to take your hat off and say too good. But I’m happy with the week I had as well.”
Gojowczyk, the 27-year-old former world No.79, claimed his fifth title on the ATP Challenger tour – his first since 2014 – without the loss of a single set and goes into qualifying at the upcoming Australian Open with an air of confidence.
“It was a great week for me and today was a perfect day,” he said. “I was serving well, I was moving well and I was hitting the ball hard and clear. I can be tough to beat when I’m like that. I’m very happy.
“It was an amazing week for (Jasika) too. He beat some really good guys.”
19-year-old Jasika becomes the fifth Australian teenager to reach an ATP Challenger final in the last twelve months, with Blake Mott and Max Purcell winning titles in Launceston and Gimcheon respectively and Marc Polmans and Alex Di Minaur reaching finals in Canberra and Eckental.
He has enjoyed a stellar few weeks, booking himself a place in the Australian Open main draw with victory at the Wildcard Play-off in December, and he now looks ahead to his opening round at Melbourne Park.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence going into the Aussie Open now,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of matches in and I’m definitely not complaining.”
Earlier, the accomplished Aussie pairing of Marc Polmans and Steven de Waard were also unsuccessful in their finals bid, the unseeded duo going down in a match tiebreaker to top seeds Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile and American Max Schnur.
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