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Anton Källberg is the winner of the last Düsseldorf Masters in 2021. The Swede defeated his compatriot Kristian KARLSSON in the final. Germany’s aces, world number eleven Timo BOLL and Portugal Open winner DANG Qiu were eliminated in the semifinals. KÄLLBERG and Benedikt DUDA share the place at the top of the Masters overall list after a total of seven editions with two triumphs each. World’s no. nine Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, Africa champion Omar ASSAR and Europe Youth Top10 winner Kay STUMPER each won a tournament in the ARAG CenterCourt.
In a top-class final, the world number 53 Anton KÄLLBERG was the better player, but also benefited from two set balls his compatriot had missed in the first round. KARLSSON mourned the missed opportunity: “It was a good game, but I didn’t use my chance in the first game at 10: 8. You can’t afford that against Anton, so in the end he deserved to win.”
The tournament winner smiled after winning the final: “I am very satisfied with my three appearances today. I played very well and won a lot of good rallies. It is nice to see that the hard training of the last few weeks is paying off.”
Timo Boll’s semi-final appearance in his “living room”, the ARAG CenterCourt, lasted four games. The top player from Borussia Düsseldorf, who was released from the organizers until the semifinals, was defeated by his team-mate Anton KÄLLBERG in a game worth seeing. In the last round, the Swede, who had a lot of quick strokes, fended off a set ball from the record European champions without any respect with a spectacular forehand topspin, before using his first match point to win shortly afterwards. Previously, BOLL had missed chances of a possible 2-1 set lead in the final phase of the third round.
KÄLLBERG, outstanding in the TTBL and in the Champions League this season, was satisfied: “I’m very happy to have won. It was a very good game on my part, but the sets were also very close. Luck was on my side, but I needed that too. I hope Timo isn’t too sad now. “
Quite the opposite, the former number 1 in the World also drew a positive conclusion: ” For me it was a good test run for the TTBL final. Anton is one of the best players in Europe at the moment. This is a big difference to a simulation in training. All games were close and I kept up very well, but unfortunately didn’t use a few chances. Of course, you can’t allow yourself that against Anton. “
