Hugo Calderano e Fu Yong, técnico do Ochsenhausen
Hugo Calderano and Ochsenhausen coach, Fu Yong (Foto: TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen)

Hugo played twice in the final four of the German Cup this Sunday (7). In a spectacular match against Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, he lost 3-2, but then completely dominated Germany’s Cedric Meissner to force the decisive match. Nonetheless, Ochsenhausen lost 3-2 to Saarbrücken in the semi-finals of the tournament.

The first match between Ochsenhausen and Saarbrücken was a battle at the highest level. Hugo fought hard but lost to Slovenian Darko Jorgic, ranked 14th in the world, 3 sets to 2 (10/12, 11/4, 11/8, 6/11, 11/8).

Spain’s Alvaro Robles, WR 44, levelled the contest with a 3-1 (10/12, 11/8, 11/9, 11/7) win over Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu. Then Patrick Franziska of Germany, WR 29, put Saarbrücken back in the lead by beating Simon Gauzy of France, WR 28, in five sets (11/8, 11/7, 10/12, 5/11 and 11/8).

Next it was Hugo’s turn to show why he is ranked fifth in the world. He gave German Cedric Meissner, WR 97, no chance and won in three sets (11/7, 11/4, 11/4). The highlight was a two-handed backhand that was the most beautiful point of the day.

Meissner stayed at the table and teamed up with Franziska to beat Robles and Gauzy 3-1 (11/3, 8/11, 11/5 and 11/7) to secure victory for the rival team. In the final, Saarbrücken lost to Borussia Düsseldorf without losing a single match. Wins by Qiu Dang, Anton Källberg and Timo Boll gave the title to the team from Düsseldorf for the 28th time in their history.

Hugo talks about matches and preparation in interview

Once the semifinal was done, Hugo was the Ochsenhausen player chosen to give the traditional post-match interview. “Yes, I think we had our chance and unfortunately we couldn’t win in the end. It wasn’t easy… the whole team fought and I’m proud of us”, Hugo said.

On the pressure of opening the semifinal, he mentioned that “we already knew it was an important game and, unfortunately, I couldn’t win”.

As for his second game, there was a surprise during the match. Originally, he was going to play Yuto Muramatsu, but the Japanese player was replaced by Cedric Meissner. However, Hugo said that the change didn’t affect him, as he was ready for any opponent.

He also spoke of the fans, who packed the Ratiopharm Arena in Neu-Ulm. All the 5,000 tickets were sold out days before the tournament started. “The Final Four always has a very good atmosphere. The crowd is very loud and our fans are here too, which makes it a lot of fun”.

Hugo then revealed that he will be returning to Doha this Monday for the WTT Star Contender. Watch the full interview in German: