Linz-AG women and Mauthausen men are chasing the title

On Saturday (11 a.m.) the first serve of the 2023 Bundesliga season will take place, which has a new presenting sponsor in win2day and will be broadcast live via Sportpass on www.oetv.at. Upper Austria is represented by four clubs in the upper house – above all the Linz AG Team OÖ, which recently won the women’s title three times in a row and is also sending a strong team into the race this year.

The local heroes Barbara Haas, Melanie Klaffner and Janina Toljan will be joined by six legionnaires – led by the Pole Weronika Falkowska (No. 262 in the world in singles, No. 90 in doubles) – who will take turns and depending on availability.

UTC Fischer Ried, who has Austria’s number two, Sinja Kraus, in his ranks, must also be on the list. The 21-year-old from Vienna recently reached the semi-finals at the Challenger in Wiesbaden and her career high so far with 151st place in the WTA ranking. The shape curve points steeply upwards.

In the men’s division, Union Stein&Co Mauthausen put away the narrowest final defeat in league history. After the 4:5 against Irdning in autumn 2022 with four championship balls awarded in the all-important doubles game, the signs are pointing to an attack. “Of course, the icing on the cake was missing, but this duel was great advertising for tennis. We want to build on that,” said team captain Hannes Pühringer, whose selection is led by the strong Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (ATP No. 92).

Irdning is once again building on concentrated red-white-red power with Sebastian Ofner, Filip Misolic, Dennis Novak, Lucas Miedler, the Melzer brothers and Joel Schwärzler.

At UTC Casa Moda Steyr, Argentinian Nicolas Kicker (ATP No. 204) is number one – followed by Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko (No. 282) and Czech Michael Vrbensky (No. 351). Reaching the Final-4 doesn’t seem unrealistic.

In the 2nd Bundesliga, two Upper Austrian clubs, UTC Scherb Rainbach and ATSV Steyr Tennis, are on the ball for the women, while ÖTB TV Urfahr is also involved with the men.

1st Bundesliga, women, group A: Linz AG Team OÖ (title defender), Weigelsdorf, Bludenz, Dornbirn, Klosterneuburg. Saturday, 11 a.m.: Bludenz – Linz. Group B: UTC Fischer Ried, Grazer Park Club, Kufstein, Schwaz, KLC. 18 May, 11 a.m.: Kufstein – Ried. Men, Group A: Irdning (title defender), WAC, Seebenstein, Schwaz, Anif. Group B: Union Stein&Co Mauthausen, UTC Casa Moda Steyr, Hartberg, Harland, Radstadt. Saturday, 11 a.m.: Hartberg – Mauthausen, Harland – Steyr.