The Hague, the Netherlands, June 12, 2103 – Sebastian Fuchs and Thomas Kaczmarek upset former world champion Todd Rogers and his new partner Ryan Doherty at the Transavia The Hague Grand Slam on the first day of main draw. The ‘last minute’ team from Germany won in three sets on their fourth match point: 21-9 17-21 18-16.
Fuchs asked Kaczmarek to join him in The Hague after his partner and Olympic champion Julius Brink had to forfeit due to a thigh injury. “We did a test practice yesterday, but it was not possible for Julius to play.”
No strangers
Fuchs and Kaczmarek are no strangers to each other. “We played together for six years in the youth and under 21 and 19 competitions. Before Jonas (Reckermann, Brink’s former partner) was retiring, I planned to play with Kaczmarek. He is on our training group and he was my first choice when Julius could not play.”
It turned out to be a good choice. The Germans took the first set in the blink of an eye, putting a lot of pressure on the Americans with their serve, strong block and defence. “But in the second we struggled with receiving and setting. Those are problems when you don’t play together much”, Fuchs said.
The Germans took the lead in the third but Rogers and Doherty fought back to 13-13. They held off four match points, but a net serve by Rogers decided the match in Germany’s favour. “We were a bit lucky in the end”, Fuchs added. “But this is a good start. We will see how far we get. Who is Julius Brink? No, I am just kidding!”
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