More than 1200 matches were scheduled over 4 days on the 15 courts at Club Danube Erdberg and 3 courts at nearby Tennispoint.

Matches started early at 09:00 each day and ended 350 matches later at 22:00.

Whilst most draws went according to the seeding – showing that the seeding panel had done a good job – there were a few upsets.

In Men 45+ the #2 seed Heiko Schwarzer crashed out against Dutchman Rene Mijs. It was also the #2 seed in Men 40+ taking an early exit.

Mick Biggs from England beat Croatian Domagoj Spoljar 3/0, but it was a tight match in the last two games.

 

With a total of more than 1000 matches it is worth mentioning the tremendous job the referees were doing.  Championship Referee Thomas Wachter had 12 referees available and managed to cover 7 courts all day, with the other matches being marked by the players.

Players battled hard in all age groups in spite of warm and humid conditions. Many matches were heavily contested, one good example is ESF Vice-President Rosie Barry (IRL) losing her first game 19/21 against Valerie Neoschil (FRA) and then running out of steam.

It took thousands of litres of water and 1.200 matches to determine the European Masters Champions in 16 categories.

Whilst UK players dominated the categories 55+ to 75+, there were a variety of different nations represented on the podium in the younger categories.

Out of 30 nations represented 12, won medals.

One outstanding performance was Fredrik Johnson beating fellow Swede Jonas Ulvsback in the M55+ final making it 6 consecutive EMIC titles in a row.

Florian Poessl (GER) showed that he is still an incredibly skilful and determined player by winning the Men 45+ against tough opposition.

Austria’s Clemens Wallishauser proved his #1 seeding in his first ever international masters event, by winning the M45+ final against Mike Gregory from England.

Cecile Mayer (DEN) and Piedro Schweertman from the Netherlands dominated 35+, both of them not dropping a game throughout the event.