he second Antwerp Open (5th -6th of November) can go into the history books as successful challenger tournament with 100 players playing over 250 matches. The level of play was high, the schedule was smooth and we saw perfect sportsmanship of all participants in each events. All results are now online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com
The home crowd was happy to witness a second victory of their hero Peter Duyck in Men A. As third seed he had 4 British players to beat to defend his title. After two comfortable wins against Boden and Bishop on Saturday, the matches became tight on Sunday. Peter beat Duncan Stahl in the semifinal and made it to the dream final: the top seeded against the home favorite. Peter thrived on the support from the large home crowd to beat Dan Busby by just 2 points.
In the Womens A event Anastasiya Bruzgina from Germany was the surprise winner after beating Dutch Kirsten Kaptein and Eefje Henkelman and a super tight 1-point victory over defending champion Lieselot De Bleeckere by beating her in Tennis 21:2 (credit: Hans Abbeloos).
In the Mens doubles the podium was an all British one with Stahl/Busby standing on the top. In the Womens double Eefje Henkelman and Lieselot De Bleeckere could take the gold medal as well as Jolien Naessens and Pieter De Bleeckere in the Mixed.
We hope to see all of you again next year!
Hans Abbeloos
Tournament director
