Kraus had her first two ITF W25 tournament victories last year. In the 40s category, which has been in existence since this year, she came quite close to her biggest coup. The first set was lost after their only loss of service to 3: 5 after the ÖTV young hope could not use two chances for a rebreak in the next game. But in the second half she bravely fought her way back into the game after a quick 0:2 deficit, in which she was even able to thwart two opportunities for a double break to make it 0:3. She almost turned a 1:3 into a 5:3, then in the next game at 0:40 she had to fend off three breakballs herself to make it 4:5 and forced a third round with a well-played tie-break. There Kraus fell behind very quickly with 0:3. At 1:3 and 15:40 when Rus served, there was another chance to get back into the game, but it was not used. A little later, the preliminary decision was made with the double break to 1: 5, even if Kraus caught up with a break for a short time. Another loss of service in the eighth game finally sealed the defeat in the final.
Despite defeat: “Very happy with my performance”
Nevertheless, Kraus should gain a lot of positive things from her appearance compared to the ÖTV: “It was definitely a very, very good match today. I’m also very happy with my performance. It took me a little while to get there. Rus played very unpleasantly, served very well – and I had to adjust to it a bit at first, but I always stuck with it and then really gave it my all and was able to win the second set. Unfortunately, the third player then ran away relatively quickly with a deficit of 0:3. I had another chance to reduce it to 2:3, but she served really well at that moment.” Physically, Rus probably had the slightly larger reserves: “Of course, the two matches before that also cost a lot of strength. It was twice three sets, she had won everything in two sets. Maybe it played a small role in the end that she was able to go one step further – and my strength wasn’t quite enough.” However, that did not detract from the positive conclusion: “It was still a great atmosphere, there were also a lot of people People there to watch, I felt super comfortable. It was still a very positive week.” Kraus continues with two more ITF W25 events in Colombia, at the first she again plays in doubles with ÖTV teammate Melanie Klaffner. In Anapoima, the two had at least advanced to the semi-finals in the doubles competition.
Here are all the results of the ITF W40 tournament in Anapoima.