The third edition of the Antwerp Open was the first time at International World Tour level. This brought a no less than 120 players to the venue of Tennis Club Hove. In the Men Elite, the first match already brought a first surprise. First seed Kasper Jønsson had to withdraw after only 2 points of squash due to a knee injury. In the other matches the seeded players Peter Duyck, Cedric Junillon and Dan Busby did what was expected of them. Even if we must say that Richard Middleton gave Peter a hard time, pushing him to a thrilling tennis match. Peter had no more than a 2 point margin in the end. The fourth semi-finalist was Mohammed Tarik Koubaa. After the withdrawal of Kasper he demonstrated his skills with a win before tennis against Korbinian Heim to face Belgian start Duyck in the semifinal. The final was a replay of last year’s final. Peter Duyck against Dan Busby. Would Peter be able to win the Antwerp Open for the third time? As expected Peter was strong in the table tennis and took a 21-10 win. Smart and solid badminton brought Dan back with a 21-17 win. Peter fought for all he was worth in squash, but could not salvage more than 7 points. Peter knew it was going to be hard to keep Dan under 15 in Tennis. It was a tight game, but at 16-15 Busby could celebrate his first Antwerp Open victory.
In the Womens elite First seed Lieselot De Bleeckere was going for home victory. Wins over Hélène Lechemolle and last year’s winner Anastasiya Bruzgina brought her to the final. In the other half of the draw second seed Nicole Eisler moved to the final with comfortable wins over Jennifer Schmitz and Anouk Dols. Everybody knew this was going to be an exciting and tight final. Table tennis could have gone either side, but Lieselot managed to take the smallest margin with a 22-20 win. In Badminton she showed that she has made a lot of progression with a 21-9 victory. Nicole started a comeback with 14-21 win in squash. She managed to win her first world tour title of 2017 with a 21-11 tennis win.
Mixed doubles was won by Lieselot De Bleeckere and Kasper Jønsson. Women’s doubles title went to Anastasiya Bruzgina and Jennifer Schmits, winning by just one point agains Kirsten Kaptein and Nicole Eisler. Men’s doubles victory was for Peter Duyck and Dan Busby, beating surprise finalists Guus Van De Burgt and Alwin Krist. Youngsters Luka Penttinen and Senne Blommaert showed them that they are getting closer to the top by taking third place. All results are online on fir.tournamentsoftware.com
Hans Abbelos
Tournament Director
