Jaksland Completes Triple Crown in Lanzarote; Bramhall Returns to Winners Circle

Morten Jaksland completed a superb triple crown at the Club La Santa Open as he won the Men’s Singles final to add to his Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles titles.

The World No.2 got revenge over fellow Dane Kresten Hougaard after Hougaard defeated him in the Lanzarote final 12 months ago.

In the Women’s A, Great Britain’s Izzy Bramhall won her first IWT Women’s A title since Latvia 2016 as she defeated top seed Nicole Eisler in an exceptional final.

Jaksland avenges 2018 final to claim Triple Crown

For Morten Jaksland it was the perfect start to the 2019 season. After coming through the ‘Group of Death’ on Sunday, Jaksland took on Kresten Hougaard in a repeat of the 2018 final.

From the very start, it became clear that Jaksland meant business. In 2018, Hougaard had won the table-tennis 21-13 and badminton 21-16 en route to his title. This year Jaksland completed flipped the script as he won the table-tennis 21-8.

If Hougaard seemed on the back-foot after table-tennis it only got worse. Jaksland dominated the badminton with a number of errors from Hougaard gifting points in both the first and second half. Jaksland made sure to punish these mistakes, winning the badminton 21-8 to build a dominant +26 lead before squash.

At this point it looked like Hougaard would need a miracle and to begin with it seemed he might pull it off. Determined to not go down without a fight, Hougaard raced to an 8-1 lead on the squash court.

Jaksland needed 17 to secure the title before tennis but looked to be struggling as he trailed 11-5 at the half-way point. The short break did him a world of good though, racing back in the second half with some sublime short-play to draw level at 14-14.

The World No.2 wrapped up the title and Triple Crown with a backhand drop winner to secure his first title of the 2019 season. He even completed the squash comeback by winning 22-20.

The victory marks a second straight victory for Jaksland over Hougaard as he continues to hunt down World No.1 Lukas Windischberger.

For Jaksland it will be a weekend to remember as he claims the Triple Crown for the first time in his career. Jaksland won the Mixed Doubles with Zuzana Severinova and the Men’s Doubles with Kresten Hougaard.

Arnaud Genin returned to winning ways to claim third-place as he defeated Malte Thyregod. The two put on one of the best sets of the weekend as they played breathtaking badminton in front of a packed crowd.

Jaksland was the star of Lanzarote, winning the Triple Crown at his favourite tournament.

Bramhall defeats Eisler in superb Club La Santa Open Women’s A final

The Women’s A category had thrown up a fascinating final as former World No.2 Izzy Bramhall took on former World No.1 Nicole Eisler.

Since 2014 Bramhall had won all four of the pair’s singles meetings. If she continued her form from the groups then she had a good chance to make it five.

Eisler fancied her chances against the returning Bramhall though and took the game to the Brit. Bramhall won the table-tennis 21-17 but this was Eisler’s best result in recent years, giving her a fighting chance.

She capitalised in the badminton, winning 21-11 with a phenomenal display of athleticism to set up a six-point lead ahead of the squash.

Much like the two previous sports, the women put on a high-class performance in a highly competitive squash contest. The play was broken up in the second half as Eisler took a nasty racket to the chest causing her to require a brief medical break.

After Eisler returned to action the high-intensity contest continued with Bramhall eventually winning 21-14. This left the Brit with a one-point lead heading into tennis. Whoever won the tennis would win the title.

Bramhall was hugely impressive on the tennis court during the final.

Bramhall is renowned on Tour as one of the most solid tennis players and her class began to show early on in the blustery conditions. She enjoyed plenty of success from the baseline while Eisler was winning her points at the net.

At the halfway stage Bramhall held the advantage with an 11-6 lead. With the wind behind her in the second half, she became unstoppable. The Brit dropped just one more point, rolling over Eisler to win the Club La Santa Open.

It was a huge moment for Bramhall who has suffered from several injuries in recent years. She’ll now move back towards the top-10 in the World.

Zuzana Severinova took the bronze medal after defeating Margaux Randjbar in the third-place match.

Bramhall and Eisler contested a superb final at the Club La Santa Open.

Best of the rest from the Club La Santa Open

Germany’s Markus Klement was the big success story outside of the elite classes as he reached the podium four times over the weekend.

Alongside winning the Mixed B Doubles with Margaux Randjbar and finishing second in the Men’s B Doubles with Moritz Kreder, Klement also won the Men’s B in a gripping final against Anthony Duthuille.

After that, he reached the final of the good-spirited and hugely popular La Santa Gummiarm Tournament, losing out to eventual champion Tobias Hausen.

Markus Klement in action in the Men’s B final.

There was a first World Tour singles title for Roni Lyytinen in the Men’s C as he beat Fabien Mauroy. In the Women’s B Tanja Omlin comfortably defeated Jana Svobodova to take home the crown while Daniel Kurmann won the Men’s D.

Elsewhere, Peter Sakovics won the Men’s +50 and Esther Dubendorfer the Women’s +50.

Want to read more about the 2019 Club La Santa Open? Have a look through all the best action from day one, day two and the live blog coverage of finals day.