Big surprise

Beachboy Reiter set Lake Neusiedl on fire

Timo Hammarberg and Jakob Reiter were able to celebrate in Burgenland.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The start of the win2day Beach Volleyball Tour PRO in Neusiedl am See turned into a big Jakob Reiter show! Together with his Lower Austrian partner Timo Hammarberg, the 25-year-old from Vorarlberg provided the big surprise.

"If someone had offered me fifth place beforehand, I would have taken it," said Jakob Reiter after reaching the quarter-finals of the win2day Tour PRO Masters with partner Timo Hammarberg. "For the fact that our joint preparation consisted of two one-and-a-half-hour training sessions on Wednesday and Thursday..."

Clear victory against the favorites
But there was much more to come for the duo. After defeating the clearly favored Estonians Tiisaar/Nolvak 21:19, 21:11 in just 32 minutes in the duel to reach the semi-finals, the 25-year-old from Dornbirn and the 20-year-old from Lower Austria provided an absolute highlight in the semi-finals.

The Neusiedl winners' podium: Timo Hammarberg and Jakob Reiter, Mathias Seiser and Laurenc Grössig, Felix Friedl and Xandi Huber (from left).(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Great fight went unrewarded
In just 28 minutes, they blasted Felix Friedl and beach legend Xandi Huber out of the "sandbox" 21:9 and 21:14. "The match simply went incredibly well for us," Reiter beamed afterwards. However, the surprise duo, who were seeded seventh, were denied the crowning glory - i.e. the tournament win. After losing set one against Seiser/Grössig 15:18, they were able to take set two 21:18 - but lost the decider 10:15. "It's a shame, we had a chance. That little bit of luck was missing," said Reiter, who was nevertheless happy.