Krajcsak Crashes Out In Croatia
21 Apr 2006
France's Fabien Verseille pulled off a significant upset in the Croatian Open when he defeated second seed Mark Krajcsak after a dramatic quarter-final match in Zagreb in which both players had several match-balls.
After the first game ended in a tiebreak, Hungary's Krajcsak opened up a 2/1 lead. But the 20-year-old eighth seed from Aix-en-Provence struck back to clinch the match 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 (4-2) after 78 minutes.
Verseille now faces Canada's fourth seed Ian Power, who eased to an 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 11-9 victory in 35 minutes over Rob Sutherland, the sixth seed from Wales.
After the dramatic late arrival for his opening match, England's top seed Simon Parke had a more relaxed quarter-final encounter with Fabian Kalaitzis, beating the seventh seed from Greece 11-8, 11-3, 11-4 in 39 minutes.
The former world No3 from Yorkshire now faces Czech number one Jan Koukal, the third seed from Prague who beat Austria's Andreas Fuchs, seeded five, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 in 38 minutes.
Quarter-finals:
[1] Simon Parke (ENG) bt [7] Fabian Kalaitzis (GRE) 11-8, 11-3, 11-4 (39m)
[3] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [5] Andreas Fuchs (AUT) 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (38m)
[4] Ian Power (CAN) bt [6] Rob Sutherland (WAL) 11-10 (2-0), 11-7, 11-9 (35m)
[8] Fabien Verseille (FRA) bt [2] Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 (4-2) (78m)