The Hague, the Netherlands, June 11, 2013 - They are still in the honeymoon phase, but that did not stop Christian Redmann and Maverick Hatch to grab a main draw spot at the Transavia The Hague Grand Slam. The Canadian pair just started a new partnership ten days ago.
“It’s exciting playing with a new partner, you have this honeymoon phase. But we feel pretty comfortable”, Hatch said after their win over third seeded Serguei Prokopiev and Yury Bogatov (25-23 21-17). Earlier on Tuesday they beat Australia’s Malachi Murch and Cole Durant, also in two sets (21-17 21-18).
First choice
The Canadians appear to be a good combination, Redmann digging up the ball in the back and Hatch blocking away at the net. “There’s a lot of switching around with the Canadian teams, but Maverick was actually my first choice to play with this year and after a few partners it finally happened”, Redmann said. “We will play together for the next couple of seasons.”
The first set against Russia’s Prokopiev and Bogatov was close: 25-23. Hatch: “We knew it was going to be a tough match, we both played this team before. I lost last year, but Chris managed to win a few times. We just focussed on our own game.” Redmann: “And Maverick’s blocking sure helped us a lot.”
Taking risks
Taking risks on their serve got them a few netballs but also a lead in the second set from 14-14. “Our goal was to put on the pressure with Maverick’s serve”, said Redmann, who finished the game with a smart angle shot. Hatch: “I still think that is really a point to improve on. We really missed out on some serves. Fortunately they did the same.”
The Canadians are, despite the ‘honeymoon phase’, ambitious. Redmann: “Top ten result would be nice, make it out of the pool and a couple of matches after that.” So far Redmann had two top ten finishes in nine years, Hatch one in the past two years.
The other teams to make it to the main draw of the Transavia The Hague Grand Slam are Austria’s Huber/Seidl, Brazil’s Evandro/Vitor Felipe, Germany’s Böckermann/Urbatzka, Latvia’s Sorokins/Smedins, Norway’s Horrem/Eithun, Spain’s Herrera/Gavira and the other Canadian team Saxton/Schalk.
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