Zuzana Severinova and Morten Jaksland dominated the first day of the Club La Santa Open after picking up two doubles titles each.
The pair won the Mixed Doubles A in the first half of the day before scooping up the Women’s A Doubles and Men’s A doubles respectively.
Severinova won the Women’s A doubles with Nicole Eisler while Kresten Hougaard partnered Jaksland in the Men’s A doubles.
Severinova and Jaksland Win Tough Mixed Doubles
The pair were made to work to win their first title of the 2019 season. In their first round, they faced Anna-Klara Ahlmer and Malte Thyregod who were leading by one point after the first two sports.
However, the eventual champions dominated the squash 21-8 leaving them needing just 10 in tennis, which they got in superb fashion.
The other half of the draw saw rising star Arnaud Genin and Izzy Bramhall team up to defeat Natalia Prado and Josselin Gade in superb fashion. That left Bramhall and Genin facing Severinova and Jaksland in the final.
The match began with an edgy table-tennis match. Bramhall and Genin battled back from a slow start to 16 points in a 21-16 loss heading into badminton. This was, by far, their strongest sport and they made it count, crushing Severinova and Jaksland 21-6 to take a heavy lead.
The eventual champions battled back though, a composed 21-14 squash victory leaving them three down heading into tennis. The tennis was tight until the change of ends. As the two swapped sides, Severinova and Jaksland adapted better to the windy conditions, and eventually won the trophy with a 21-14 tennis result and +4 victory overall.
Ahlmer and Thyregod won the bronze after a +30 win over Prado and Gade.
Jaksland retains Men’s Doubles title with Kresten Hougaard
There were few surprises in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles at the Club La Santa Open as the seedings all lived up to their billing in Lanzarote.
Jaksland, partnered with Kresten Hougaard, strolled through to the final after a +24 victory over Juho Vuorinen and Taavi Suorsa – despite a blip in the badminton which saw them lose 21-18.
It was a similar story in the bottom half of the draw. Second seeds Jesper Hougaard and Malte Thyregod also looked superb as they brushed French pair Anthony Duthuille and Josselin Gade aside to make it an all-Danish final.
The final itself ended up being a thrilling affair. The second seeds made the most of their strengths, winning the table-tennis and badminton to open up a convincing +15 lead. This lead was to be short-lived though, as the top seeds produced some stunning squash to win 21-4 and take a +2 lead into tennis.
This meant that a full set of tennis was required. Hougaard and Thyregod refused to go down without a fight and battled hard against the top seeds for much of the match. Eventually, the top seeds prevailed to win +5 overall, the exact same result as when these two pairs met here in 2018.
Duthuille and Gade completed the podium as they won the third-placed playoff over Vuorinen and Suorsa.
Severinova joins forces with Nicole Eisler to win Women’s Doubles
The Women’s A, much like the Men’s also went to proceedings as the top two seeded pairs reached the final. Top seeds Eisler and Severinova, who received a bye through the first round, faced Kirsten Kaptein and Katrin Maldre in their opening match.
Kaptein and Maldre had already had to battle past Danish pair Mette Nielsen and Nikoline Simonsen in the first round but found the top seeds too much to handle. Eisler and Severinova advanced needing just four in tennis.
In the bottom half, second seeds Ahlmer and Randjbar made light work of their second-round opponents Dorothee Gazeau and Natalia Prado as they won before tennis.
This left us with a high-quality final on our hands. The match itself did not begin until nearly 9:30 pm as the Men’s Doubles final was so lengthy. This did not faze the finalists who put on a highly-competitive show.
Eisler and Severinova edged the table-tennis 21-19 before their opponents returned the favour with a 21-17 badminton win. The killer blow came in squash though, where the top seeds won 21-4 to leave them needing just seven in tennis.
A short but high-quality tennis set was won 7-4 by Eisler and Severinova who claimed the trophy shortly before 11:00 pm.
Best of the rest on day one of the Club La Santa Open
The only other title claimed on day one was the Seniors +45 Doubles. This was won by Hungarian top seeds Zoltan Matecsa and Peter Sakovics who beat Manfred Grab and Stefan Niemeyer in the final.
The Men’s B Doubles and Mixed B Doubles finals were also confirmed and will take place on day two.
Tobias Hausen and Michael Skytte Pedersen will take on Moritz Kreder and Markus Klement in the Men’s B Doubles.
Klement is also in the Mixed B Doubles final as he teams up with Margaux Randjbar to face Rahel Grothmann and Marc Grau.
Day two of the Club La Santa Open begins on Sunday with all singles categories taking place.
You can keep up to date with the scores here or follow the FIR Racketlon Instagram for live updates.
The full results from day one of the Club La Santa Open can be seen here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
