Stine Jacobsen and Morten Jaksland made the perfect start to their 2021 season as they won the Women’s and Men’s Singles titles at the IWT Swiss Open.
Their victories mean that both completed a sensational Triple Crown, winning the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. It also built on their recent success in Denmark, where both won the singles at the Danish National Championships.
Jacobsen defeated two-time defending champion Astrid Reimer-Kern in the final while Jaksland survived a late comeback from Oliver Buhler to lift the IWT Swiss Open Men’s Singles trophy for the first time.
Women’s Singles – Jacobsen Completes Triple Crown and Extends Winning Run
Heading into the Women’s Singles final, the question was around Astrid Reimer-Kern. Could the German win the IWT Swiss Open title for a third time in a row? She had won in 2017 and 2019, the last two editions of the tournament. In the end, she couldn’t manage it for the third year in a row.
For Stine Jacobsen, this was just the second time she’d been in an IWT-level singles final. She’d lost her first as the 2018 Swedish Open to Natalie Paul. She would not make the same mistake again.
Jacobsen raced into the lead against Reimer-Kern. The Dane dominated the table tennis, winning 21-11 to open up an early 10 point cushion. That lead was extended to 26 points after a sensational 21-5 badminton win.
Reimer-Kern is undoubtedly the best regular squash player on the women’s circuit though, and she proved that in the final. The German crushed Jacobsen 21-6 to take 15 points off the 26 point lead. However, that still left the Dane needing just 11 points on the tennis court.
Not only did Jacobsen win, but she did it in absolute style. Her 11-2 tennis victory gave her an overall win of +20 points and the biggest singles title of her career so far. The singles win also completed a remarkable Triple Crown in Switzerland.
That triumph sees Jacobsen join an illustrious group of just nine women to have achieved a Triple Crown on the FIR World Tour. She also becomes the second Danish woman to have completed the remarkable achievement, behind Line Irby Norregaard at the 2016 Swedish Open.
Anna-Klara Ahlmer joined Jacobsen and Reimer-Kern on the podium after beating home favourite Nicole Eisler in the bronze medal match.
The full results from the Women’s Singles are available here.
Men’s Singles – Jaksland Halts Late Buhler Fightback to Triumph in Switzerland
It’s been six years since we last saw Morten Jaksland at the IWT Swiss Open. He’s improved a lot since then. Back then, he lost three of his four matches but now he’s the World No.1 with 14 singles titles to his name.
He didn’t have it all his own way in today’s final against Oliver Buhler though. The last time they met, back in 2019, Jaksland won the first three sports and cruised to victory before tennis. Buhler massively improved this year.
While Jaksland won the table tennis 21-13, Buhler fought back in impressive style, winning 21-16 in badminton. The last time they met, Jaksland beat Buhler to 3 on the squash court. This time, Buhler managed to get 11 and was only 11-7 down at the turn.
There are very few players who can match Jaksland on the tennis court but Buhler is one of them. With the World No.1 needing 9 for the win, it was all looking comfortable at 8-8. suddenly though, Buhler rattled off 6 points in a row to test Jaksland’s nerves. There’s a reason that the Dane has been No.1 for so long though. He took his chance at the 7th time of asking to get his hands on a first IWT Swiss Open Men’s A Singles title.
That trophy takes Jaksland up to 5th on the all-time list of singles champions, overtaking Mikko Karkkainen on 14. Next in his sights is Calum Reid, who currently has 18 trophies to his name.
Jacobsen and Jaksland also made history by becoming just the second pair in the sport’s history to have won a Triple Crown at the same tournament and be from the same nation. Christine Seehofer and Lukas Windischberger have achieved this feat twice before; at the 2017 King of Rackets and Vienna Classics.
The full IWT Swiss Open Men’s A Singles results are available here.
2021 FIR World Tour and More IWT Swiss Open Reports
Enjoy the other reports from the IWT Swiss Open from Doubles Day and Singles Saturday.
The full report of all junior, senior and amateur classes will be published on Monday.
The full 2021 FIR World Tour is available here, with all tournaments open for players of all ages and abilities.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Morten Jaksland
