Men’s Austrian Open Preview: Omlor Aiming For More Consistency

Just a few days after the women’s event at Europark Salzburg came to its conclusion, with Switzerland’s Celine Walser taking home the title, the men’s Austrian Open begins on Wednesday, with the action coming from the same glass court.

Another Swiss player, in Yannick Wilhelmi, will be the top seed for the men’s event, with the World No.108 facing competition from Germany’s Yannik Omlor, who will actually be the highest ranked player in the draw, currently occupying the World No.104 spot in the rankings.

We spoke to the German No.2 prior to the tournament starting on Wednesday, and he believes he is in a good place coming into the competition.

“I’m feeling good about my squash at the moment. I had few months of good training and feeling ready for the tournament,” the German said.

“It would be amazing getting back into winning events again. I find it generally quite difficult to bet on always winning because there are many good players on tour, but I’m trusting in the process and believing that all my consistent training hours will pay off.”

Omlor will be the No.2 seed for the competition, and with that, he admits that there will be some added pressure, while he also admits that he needs to find some more consistency in his game to move back inside the world’s top 100 again.

“Being the No.2 seed definitely adds quite a bit of pressure. Although I know there are a lot of good players in the draw, I personally just want to enjoy playing squash and will take it one match at a time,” he explained.

“I think I need to get back to being as consistent as I was. In the last few tournaments, I had ups and downs in my performances and now I’m trying to better my consistency in the events. 

“Another important factor is confidence. You need to believe in yourself and your skills, otherwise it will be difficult to successfully defeat other good opponents.”

Spain’s Ivan Perez, who claimed the victory at the Carlisle Squash Club 50th Anniversary Open, will be the No.3 seed for the Challenger 5 level competition, with Brazilian Diego Gobbi rounding out the top four seeds.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia Pollan, Jamaican No.1 Christopher Binnie and Switzerland’s Robin Gadola, along with home favourite Aqeel Rehman, will make up the top eight seeds. Rehman will be one of three Austrians in the draw, alongside Jakob Dirnberger and wildcard Lukas Windischberger.

The event takes place from Wednesday, July 6 to Saturday, July 9 at the Europark Salzburg in Austria. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on *Twitter* and *Facebook* for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Austrian Open (Men’s)
[1] Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) v Perry Malik (ENG)
Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) v [8] Robin Gadola (SUI)
[5] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) v Valeriy Fedoruk (UKR)
Nilo Vidal (ESP) v [4] Diego Gobbi (BRA)
[3] Ivan Perez (ESP) v James Peach (ENG)
Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) v [7] Christopher Binnie (JAM)
[6] Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP) v [WC] Lukas Windischberger (AUT)
Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) v [2] Yannik Omlor (GER)