Seehofer vs. Bramhall & Jaksland vs. Ratzer in World Championships Finals

Christine Seehofer and Jesper Ratzer both return to the finals of the World Racketlon Championships after an impressive Friday and Saturday.

Seehofer faces Great Britain’s Isabelle Bramhall while Ratzer takes on World No.1 Morten Jaksland.

Seehofer is looking to win a third consecutive World Title while for Ratzer a win in Leipzig would be his fifth in a row.

Women’s A: Seehofer Looks Strong On Way to Final

It’s fair to say that Christine Seehofer has looked in great form throughout this singles tournament. An opening round against Amke Fischer followed by a quarter-final against Stine Jacobsen looked to be a tough way to begin a tournament. However, the Austrian was hugely impressive, winning both matches by 22 points without needing to play tennis.

In the semi-final, Seehofer took on Polish wild card Barbara Walsky. The tennis specialist had made a remarkable run to the semi-finals on her international racketlon debut performance. She beat both Anna Wall and Silke Altmann to earn her spot in the semi-finals. However, Seehofer was a step too far for the newcomer. The World No.1 overpowered Walsky to guarantee she would return to the final once again.

Isabelle Bramhall is the second player to reach the final. Eight years since she last played at a World Singles Championships thanks to a string of injuries, Bramhall has made a fairytale run in Leipzig. She opened by defeating fellow countrywoman Hannah Boden and followed that up with an impressive win over Germany’s Natalie Paul.

In the semi-finals, Bramhall faced Zuzana Severinova. They had met previously this year at the IWT Club La Santa Open, with Bramhall edging the match. Showing no signs of nerves and perhaps buoyed on by lifting the World Cup the night before with Great Britain, Bramhall outclassed her opponent. With an extremely low error count, Bramhall moved into her first World Championships Elite Singles final.

Bramhall is one of only a handful of players to have beaten Seehofer in the last five years, although that win came in 2014. When they met in Malta back in September it was Seehofer who won but only by ten points. Bramhall has had a magical week in Leipzig but does her story have a happy ending?

Men’s A: Ratzer Returns to Take on World No.1

Jesper Ratzer has returned to racketlon in the same way he left last year – an unbelievably good player. After formerly holding the No.1 spot, Ratzer now only plays the World Championships each year.

Taking his place at World No.1 is Morten Jaksland. The fellow Dane is into his first World Singles Championships Elite final. However, he has had some World Championships success this year already, winning the Men’s Doubles crown with Kresten Hougaard.

Ratzer had a tough run through to the final. In the first round he took out No.5 seed Luka Penttinen before following that up with a routine win over Michal Kurek. Things got tougher in the quarter-finals as Ratzer faced a stern test in Leon Griffiths. Getting better throughout the match though, he was able to fend off the challenge of the young Brit, although did require one point in tennis.

In the semi-finals, Ratzer was taken to tennis as well. Arnaud Genin fought to make Ratzer need four points in tennis for victory. With Genin 6-0 up in the tennis set there were some whispers that an unprecedented comeback was on. However, Ratzer reeled off four-straight points to reach the final once again.

His opponent, Morten Jaksland has also had a relatively comfortable stroll through to the final, his tennis proving critical in a number of matches. He opened with a gritty victory over Sylvain Ternon before following that up with simple wins over Rene Lindberg and the in-form Christian Wiessner.

In the semi-finals, he took on No.3 seed Dan Busby. Jaksland had never lost to Busby but found himself only four up at the start of the tennis. A mesmerizing tennis set sealed the win for Jaksland and a spot in his maiden World Singles Championships final.

Previously playing on the same Danish National team this pair know each others games very well. Jaksland has improved a lot since they last met but still doesn’t have a win against Ratzer to his name. Will that streak end in Leipzig?

The full results can be found for the Men’s Elite and Women’s Elite draws.