Boom boom Gonzalez
The good atmosphere at the AFAS Tennis Classics makes it a great place to spend your Saturday evening. Representatives of different tennis clubs from all over the country who joined the annual congress of the KNLTB decided to stay in Apeldoorn and enjoy some exciting tennis matches and fascinating tricks on court. The first finalist is the unbeaten Fernando Gonzalez from group B. Both Haarhuis and Malisse didn’t find a winning answer to the impressive power game of the former number five of the world. Paul lost his match closely with 8-10 in the third set tie-break and also Malisse had to recognize his opponent’s impressive game, losing 4-6, 2-6. Trying to find the right tactic to beat Gonzalez, the Belgian player decided to use Gonzalez’ own tactic by hitting the ball as hard as possible to the other side. Well, the goal to hit hard was accomplished and both players ended up laughing on court. Still, Malisse’s ball ended up behind the baseline.
Perfect backhands from Schalken
In group A Santoro, Schalken and Safin battled till the end for a place in the final. Former number one of the world Safin made to many mistakes to blow Santoro of the court. The ball magician from France on the other hand effectively used his famous slices and drop-shots and won with 6-4, 6-4. However, Schalken who is in good shape played very solid beating the Frenchman with 6-1, 7-6. Also against Safin Schalken barely made mistakes, played beautiful backhands all over the court and ended the match with an ace. 7-6, 6-1 for our compatriot from Limburg. In a reaction to this his children jumped enthusiastically in the air and waved to their daddy. ‘Actually this is the first time they see me play. Last year they did not want to come, because they preferred to go horse riding’, jokes Sjeng Schalken after his match. When we shortly spoke to former coach Alex Reijnders he told us that Sjeng had actually said that he played quite good this tournament. ‘Well, and I think I barely heard this three times before’, tells Reijnders laughing. Tomorrow the crowd will enjoy a nice doubles promotion match with AFAS Tennis Classics hero Mansour Bahrami, followed by a match for the third and fourth place between Malisse and Santoro. At the end of the day Schalken will give everything to win the title this year. Last year the American Roddick turned out to be too good. We will see what this year’s final against the friendly Gonzalez will bring.
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