02.06.2016 21:46:18 | “The Prostějov tournament is very special and really matters a lot to me. I’ve always been highly motivated to succeed here. I’ve won it twice and I want to become the champion for the third time. I know I have many supporters here and I don’t want to disappoint them. The more difficult it is for me,“ said Jiří Veselý on his relationship to the UniCredit Czech Open after he defeated Tipsarevič of Serbia in the match for the quarter-final. Before Veselý clashed Kukushkin to reach the semi-finals, their H2H was 1-1. Veselý won in Prostějov two years ago and lost in Halle last year.
After Pavlásek was defeated by Cervantes of Spain, the match between Veselý and Kukushkin was another chance to keep the Czech players in the following programme of the UniCredit Czech Open. Veselý finally succumbed to Kukushkin and, considering he was the defending champion, he ended up too early. “Actually, the match was almost identical to the previous ones. It wasn’t about the opponent, it was about my own performance. The first set was awful on my part, then I improved, and everything went wrong again in the final set,“ said the defeated defending champion after the match. “It was unbelievable sometimes what I did on the court.“ He levelled the sets but Kukushkin was more consistent. “I didn’t relax even after I levelled up. I’m terribly disappointed now, I really wanted to repeat last year’s success. Maybe it tied me down too much. Anyway, it was an extremely bad performance on my part today.“
