Fischer and Griffiths Lift CH London Open Titles

Amke Fischer and Leon Griffiths both walked away from the Roehampton Club as champions after winning the Women’s Singles and Men’s Singles titles.

Fischer defeated debutant Alison Waters in a dramatic and highly-anticipated match.

Meanwhile, Griffiths gained revenge over Dan Busby in an all-British final after losing to him earlier this year in the British National Championships.

There were also titles for Matthew Davidson, Jane Galsworthy, Peter Crocombe, Jeremy Kzysyniak, Martyn Langston, Bruce Shepherd, Luke Griffiths and Eleanor Sinker. A new report will be released in the coming days for all juniors, seniors and non-elite action.

Amke Fischer Wins Memorable Final Against Alison Waters

There was certainly a buzz surrounding the Women’s A singles final at this year’s CH London Open. Alison Waters story had captured the attention of people both inside and outside the racketlon world.

The PSA Squash World No.11 had created a huge shock on Saturday after she eliminated top seed Zuzana Severinova in her first racketlon singles match. Following that up with a slender win over Kim Hay, Waters booked herself into the final. Quite a way to start your racketlon career.

In her first two matches, Waters had kept the table tennis and badminton close. She was unable to do that in the final. Fischer is a superb all-rounder and utilised that perfectly, keeping Waters to just nine in the table tennis.

With the squash still to come, Fischer knew she had to build on that 12 point advantage. Despite Waters’ superb movement and reactions in badminton, Fischer was able to outthink her opponent and took the badminton set 21-12.

That left the German leading by exactly 21 points before squash. In five previous squash sets that weekend, Waters had dropped three bagels on players. That would not be the case in the final. Fischer hit four winners while a mistake from Waters gifted her opponent a fifth point. A 21-5 squash win for Waters left Fischer needing 17 in the tennis.

Amke Fischer and Alison Waters after their Final.

With rain hitting the Roehampton Club on Sunday morning, the final was forced to be played on clay rather than the grass courts. This certainly favoured Fischer who was more accustomed to the surface.

After a tight start, Fischer began to pull away, eventually reaching 16-11 and drawing up 10 championship points. However, drama struck as Fischer, mid-rally on her first match point, suddenly pulled her calf. After a medical timeout, Fischer returned to court but was clearly struggling with movement due to the injury.

Waters managed to win four points to claw it back to 16-5 as the impossible suddenly looked like it could happen. On the fifth attempt though, Fischer managed to get over the line and secure her second consecutive FIR World Tour title.

“I felt quite under pressure but it doesn’t make sense to get too worried”

After the match, Amke Fischer said, “I’m super pleased. It was a tough match in the final because Alison is the underdog and it’s her home venue.”

“She’s a good player and when she plays well she makes points. Especially in table tennis and badminton, I felt quite under pressure but it doesn’t make sense to get too worried about it”

Fischer also confirmed that she had pulled her calf and will be resting for the next fortnight.

Meanwhile, after making her racketlon debut, Alison Waters said, “I really had a great weekend. It was my first experience playing racketlon and I didn’t really know what to expect coming into it.”

“The final was a tough one. It was a close match and a shame to lose but obviously, I’m delighted to make the final.”

“I’m still focusing on my squash at the minute but if the Roehampton Club had this again next year I’d definitely play and post-squash I’d like to because obviously, I’d like to keep active.”

The bronze medal was won by Kim Hay after the Brit defeated No.2 seed Kirsten Kaptein. Hay battled back from a 21-5 table tennis result to win the final three sports and win +14 overall.

Leon Griffiths Gets Revenge Over Dan Busby

Revenge was very much the name of the game for Leon Griffiths at the CH London Open. This season he’d only lost to Morten Jaksland and Dan Busby. At the CH London Open, he beat them both.

When Busby beat Griffiths at the British Championships this year, he only lost the table tennis and badminton 21-18 and 21-11. Today, he lost 21-9 and 21-4. Those dominant performances from Griffiths, especially in badminton where he was breathtaking, saw him a massive +29 heading into the squash.

Griffiths had an opportunity to win the championship before tennis, had he reached 14 in the squash. However, he fell two points short as Busby won 21-12 in a squash set featuring a number of eye-catching winners.

The gap was simply too big for Busby to make up. With Griffiths needing just two in tennis it was a foregone conclusion. Although Busby hit a pair of lovely winners in the tennis it took Griffiths just five points to seal the match. The win secured him a first FIR World Tour singles trophy of the season.

Leon Griffiths wins his first FIR World Tour title of 2019.

“It was good to face some enemies this year that have beaten me,” Griffiths said after winning the title. “It was a sweet victory”.

“I was really solid and I only made two mistakes in that set so he had to hit a winner in the table tennis and he was missing a couple while I kept the pressure on. The momentum just didn’t swing in his favour so I think the table tennis was crucial today”.

Victories over Morten Jaksland and Dan Busby have cemented Griffiths’ status as one of the stars of the sport. Is he the front-runner for the World Singles Championship?