To tweak an old saying, you can’t win the Swiss Open on the Saturday, but you can certainly lose it, and that was the pressure facing our players as the singles draws kicked off in earnest, in a day which would see both the Men’s and Women’s Elite draws complete the semi-final stage.
Stine in the Hunt, Emner in the Way
Hunting a Triple Crown, Stine Jacobson would start the day as top seed in the Women’s Elite draw, and she would start up against Silke Altmann, who had seen off the home hopeful Dara Ladner in the round of 16. Silke however was not able to make a dent in the top seeded Dane, going down 12, 8 and 13; to be defeated before tennis. In the semi-finals, Stine lined up against another German, 4th seed Astrid Reimer-Kern. Astrid had progressed to that semi-final by defeating her fellow country woman, Carola Von Heimburg in the quarter-finals (with Carola having stuck to another German them of the day, defeating a home challenger in the Last 16; Susan Rutschmann. Much like Stine, Astrid cruised into the semi-finals without need of a tennis racket. Into the semi-final and Stine was well aware of the dangerous German’s pedigree on the squash court, and to that end a strong start was vital. Stine backed up a 21-14 TT win, with an impressive 21-5 badminton win, placing herself 25 points up to Squash. Astrid, hit back in some style, decimating the deficit with a 21-3 victory of her own, meaning Stine led by 9 to the tennis court.
With first vs fourth seed in the top half, could second seed Myriam Enmer and third seed Kirsten Kaptein match this performance in the bottom half? For Myriam to make that happen she was faced with a familiar foe, her Friday Doubles partner Irina Olsacher. Irina had started her campaign against Swiss Adeline Kilchenmann, which after a titanic badminton struggle (23-21 to Irina), the Austrian’s tennis saw her through to the quarter-final. They may have been partners on Friday, but come Saturday, Myriam was all business, dominating the first three sports to dispatch her opponent with ease. The final quarter pitched Kirsten against Heike Voigt (Ger) and this was a tussle, coming down to a game of tennis between the pair. Here, Kirsten’s tennis was strong enough and a 21-12 victory saw her through to a semi-final against Myriam. Despite an early blow from Kirsten, who won the TT 21-17; after that it was one way traffic for the frenchwoman. Myriam claimed the badminton and squash to 11 and 12 respectively before swiftly polishing off the 7 points on the tennis court to ease into the final. First vs Second seed, in what is to be a belting match.
It’s M&M’s in the Men’s Elite
We join the 16 draw Men’s event in the quarter-finals, where the only shock was that fourth seed Cornelius Radermacher, who had won both his Doubles on day 1 was knocked out by his partner from Friday Max Plettenburg. Max continued his form moving into the semi-finals by quickly dispatching another German, Patrick Oettl. This set up a semi-final against second seed Emanuel Schopf, who played something of a classic Racketlon match against world tour newcomer, Sion Wiggin; the three completed spots all being won to single figures; Emanuel needing just 6 on the tennis. Max was clearly riding a wave and he soon washed away the Austrian second seeds challenge. Single figure wins in the TT and badminton before heading to the squash, where Max finished his demolition job in style leading 18-6 when Emanuel threw in the towel, Max however was only getting better with every round.
It was a battle of the Swiss in the top half as Nico Hobi faced third seed Oliver Buhler. This battle went all the way, with the sports shared (Nico with the TT and Squash; OLiver with the badminton and tennis). Ultimately, Oliver was able to achieve the Racketlon goal of winning bigger than he lost, and claimed an 8 point victory. Shock of the day was at the very top of the draw, as the home favourite and top seed Nicolas Lenggenhager was demolished by Czechia’s Martin Sopko (who has also won the 40+ tournament). Martin winning 21-9, 21-11, 21-13 to saunter into a semi-final against Oliver. The Sopko saunter continued in the semi-final; as he wrapped up a solid win, 21-15, 21-16, 21-8 victory over Oliver. With both Max and Martin both in such formidable form through the event, the final is bound to be an absolute humdinger of a battle!
Dubendorfer Doubles Delight
As mentioned in the Friday report, the Women’s B Doubles was being contested on Saturday, and pitched a few Swiss Dubendorfer’s against each other. Victoria D playing with Ylvie Zahn (Ger) faced Esther D and Julietta D and the German pairing of Alina Reissenauer & Lena Schaedler. Victoria & Ylvie saw off the Double Dubendorfer pairing to seal the title, ahead of Esther & Julietta; with Alina & Lena third. Impressively, Lena; Julietta and Ylvie were in the Girls U13s, where Ylvie claimed the title beating Lena by 7 points in a thrilling and competitive final which finished 18-21, 21-18, 19-21, 21-12; the tennis the only way to seperate the youngsters. Ylvie completed a stunning treble by also winning the Girls U16s; this time defeating Alina on a gumi-arm after their match finished 21-5, 7-21, 17-21, 21-19; a phenomenal demonstration of the talent in (German) Racketlon youth!
James Pope / FIR Media Team