Astrid Reimer-Kern won an intense gummiarm in her semi-final against Nathalie Vogel to move into the World Singles Championship final for the second time.
The gummiarm came after Reimer-Kern had already battled to an impressive win over Zuzana Severinová, knocking the final seeded player out of the tournament.
She’ll take on Stine Jacobsen in the final, after the Dane confidently beat Michelle Fux and Myriam Enmer to reach her first elite World Singles Championship final.
Reimer-Kern’s Run to the Final
After a smooth opener against Alice Flatman, Astrid Reimer-Kern had a much tougher quarter-final against Zuzana Severinová. The pair split their two meetings in 2019, so the winner of this match was anyone’s guess.
True to recent form, it was Severinová who opened up an early lead, winning the table tennis and badminton 21-12 and 21-19. She then secured her best squash result, getting seven points off of former PSA player Reimer-Kern. In the end, Reimer-Kern was too solid in tennis though. Her consistent game unpicked Severinová’s style and the German booked her spot in the semi-finals.
Nathalie Vogel awaited her at that stage, with the former two-time World Champion beating No.3 seed Nicole Eisler in the quarter-finals. The German did not have it all her own way, especially after losing the squash 21-16, but managed to emerge with a +13 victory
What followed was yet another classic encounter. Vogel had a healthy lead of 18 after the badminton but had that reduced to just four after Reimer-Kern dominated the squash. Then came the tennis set.
The momentum ebbed and flowed throughout, with Vogel trying to break down Reimer-Kern’s defences. In the end, Vogel had a match point but that slipped away to set up a gummiarm. After losing the toss, Vogel was forced to serve and got her serve in. After two powerful forehands came back, Vogel attempted a drop shot which drifted into the net, leaving Reimer-Kern to advance to the second World Championship final of her career.
Jacobsen’s Run to the Final
While Reimer-Kern’s endured two tough matches on her way to the final, Stine Jacobsen cruised through in style.
The 2021 form player began her day against Michelle Fux, beating the Swiss player by 34 points before tennis. This was probably a good thing as Fux’s tennis was at an exceptional level.
In the semi-final, Jacobsen took on Myriam Enmer. The French talent was playing in her first World Singles Championship and had done exceptionally well to reach this stage on her debut. She advanced after a remarkable 21-3 tennis set that helped her record a five-point victory over Irina Olsacher.
For Enmer, Stine Jacobsen was a step too far. The Dane has been in imperious form and was actually riding a 16 match unbeaten streak. That class showed in the semi-final as she defeated Enmer by 39 points before tennis. The French star will now take on Nathalie Vogel for a bronze medal.
Jacobsen vs. Reimer-Kern
So those results leave us with Stine Jacobsen against Astrid Reimer-Kern in the Women’s Singles final. Astrid Reimer-Kern has been here before, losing to Christine Seehofer in 2018’s final. This is the first time that Stine Jacobsen has been in an elite World Championship final, although she is already a world champion this week after winning the Women’s +40 on Thursday.
The two have only met once before, but it was this year and it was in Switzerland. The pair faced each other in the final of the IWT Swiss Open, with Jacobsen winning as part of her remarkable 17 match unbeaten streak in singles.
One of these women will go down in the racketlon history books as a world champion on Sunday. You can watch the full final, with commentary, from 13:00CET on Sunday on streamster.tv here.
The full results from the Women’s Singles are available here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Rene Zwald
