Luke Griffiths and Leon Griffiths have set up a second showdown of the year in the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles at the IWT Latvian Open.
The two brothers will collide for the first time since Sheffield, where Luke shocked Leon on a dramatic gummiarm. The winner will advance to the final to take on the winner of an all-Swiss semi-final between Christian Schaefer and Oliver Bühler.
The two did team up later in the day to secure a second doubles title of the season, beating Leigh Sands and Matthew Haynes in the Men’s Doubles final.
Elsewhere, two doubles titles for Anna-Klara Ahlmer leave her chances of a Triple Crown still very much alive.
Ahlmer and Kirsten Kaptein triumphed in the Women’s Doubles while Ahlmer also won the Mixed Doubles title with René Lindberg.
Men’s Singles – Repeat or Revenge?
The Men’s Singles category largely went to script with three of the four seeds advancing to the semi-finals. Luke Griffiths was the sole player to disrupt this. Griffiths began by battling past New Zealand’s Sion Wiggin, requiring just seven points on the tennis court.
That victory set up a quarter-final clash with No.4 seed René Lindberg. The teenage Brit dominated the Swede from start to finish. He won by 29 points before tennis to secure his spot in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Luke will face brother Leon in a rematch of their dramatic showdown in Sheffield. Leon progressed to the semi-finals after a commanding win over Matthew Haynes. A round earlier, Haynes had been involved in the match of the day against the returning Leigh Sands.
The Australian had battled back from a slow start to give himself three match points. But Haynes rallied in superb style, saving the match points before converting his own to beat Sands and move into the quarter-finals.
It will either be Luke Griffiths or Leon Griffiths in the final of the IWT Latvian Open. Will Leon be able to win the title in Riga once again or could Luke advance to his first elite singles final?
Men’s Singles – Swiss Success as Seeds into Semis
In the bottom half, both Christian Schaefer and Oliver Bühler advanced to the semi-finals with relative ease. Schaefer endured the biggest scare, beating Michal Horácek by seven points after the Czech player had earlier fought hard to eliminate Joel Pennanen in the first round.
Bühler stopped the surge of Great Britain’s Matthew Davidson. The Swiss crushed the Brit on the tennis court with a 17-2 route to set up a semi-final showdown with Schaefer. Davidson had entered the dreams of home fans in his first match, taking out Latvia’s Arturs Zaicevs.
Remarkably, given they are both from Switzerland, this is the first time that Schaefer and Bühler have met on the Racketlon World Tour. One of the two will take on a Griffiths brother for the title on Sunday.
The full Men’s Singles results are available here.
Women’s Singles – Ahlmer Keeps Triple Crown Alive
Anna-Klara Ahlmer is one victory away from her second career Triple Crown and first at the IWT level as she advanced to the final of the Women’s Singles in Riga. The Swede received a bye through the first round and faced Stine Krogsøe in the semi-final.
Denmark’s Krogsøe had comfortably dispatched Latvia’s Agnese Logosa in the opening round. The World No.3 was too hot to handle for Krogsøe though. Ahlmer beat Krogsøe by 17 points, with a 21-5 squash set the turning point in the match.
In the final, Ahlmer will take on No.2 seed Kirsten Kaptein. The Dutch player rolled into the final after first taking out Latvia’s Vizma Simane and then defeating Girls Juniors No.1 Alexandra Ogram. Ogram won the squash 21-17 but had left herself too much to do after Kaptein won the table tennis 21-2.
Ogram had done well to reach the semi-finals after recovering from a 21-3 table tennis loss against Sanita Sveile. The young Brit battled hard, winning the next three sports to eventually win by five points. A breakthrough tournament for Ogram as she reaches her first elite singles semi-finals.
But her loss to Kaptein sets up a final between Kaptein and Ahlmer. Ahlmer already has two titles with the Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles title. Could she secure the Triple Crown in Latvia?
The full Women’s Singles results are available here.
Mixed Doubles – Lindberg Wins His First Mixed Doubles Title Alongside Ahlmer
The first of Saturday’s Latvian Open Doubles finals was the Mixed Doubles battle as Anna-Klara Ahlmer and René Lindberg took on Alexandra Ogram and Luke Griffiths.
The Swedes took the lead in table tennis and never looked back. They won 21-12 before losing the badminton 21-17. As with Ahlmer’s singles match, it was the squash that sealed the win. She and Lindberg won 21-8, with Lindberg securing a superb 10-3 second-half victory against Griffiths.
They won the title with four simple points in tennis. It’s a huge day for René Lindberg as he picks up his first elite Mixed Doubles title. For Ahlmer, it’s title number eight as she continues to work her way up the all-time rankings.
Kirsten Kaptein and Sion Wiggin finished with a bronze medal as they defeated Stine Krogsøe and Roland Pichler in superb style.
The full Mixed Doubles results are available here.
Women’s Doubles – Flawless Ahlmer and Kaptein Win Without Dropping a Set
Racketlon titles don’t get much better than winning without dropping a set. That is exactly what Anna-Klara Ahlmer and Kirsten Kaptein achieved in Latvia. After beating the Latvian duo on Friday, Ahlmer and Kaptein had a final against Stine Krogsøe and Alexandra Ogram.
Ahlmer and Kaptein won the table tennis 21-11 and then fought hard to win the badminton 24-22. The squash ended 21-15 to the victorious pair before the title was sealed with a 4-2 tennis victory.
A landmark moment for Ahlmer as she wins her 10th Women’s Doubles title. The World No.1 cementing her place at the top of the world rankings. It’s a good day for Kaptein as well as she takes home a fourth career title. The two will now head to other sides of the court to face off in Sunday’s Women’s Singles final.
The full Women’s Doubles results are available here.
Men’s Doubles – Griffiths Brothers Continue Winning Streak
Heading into the Latvian Open, the Griffiths Brothers were unbeaten in Men’s Doubles on the Racketlon World Tour. Three tournaments, three titles. Eight matches, eight wins. Well you can now change that to four tournaments, four titles. 10 matches, 10 wins.
After their triumph on Friday, the duo set up a showdown with Matthew Haynes and Leigh Sands in the final. It was the British-Aussie duo that made the faster start, winning the table tennis 21-18. That is where their success faded.
The Griffiths Brothers came alive on the badminton court, winning 21-2 before edging out a slender 21-19 squash. Four points were all they needed for the 10th win in a row and a fourth title as a pair. That now takes the Griffiths family Men’s Doubles titles up to 15, with Leon on 10, Luke on four and Andy on one.
Joel Pennanen and Arturs Zaicevs finished with the bronze medal after Matthew Davidson and Sion Wiggin were forced to retire trailing by seven points before tennis.
The full Men’s Doubles results are available here.
The full report from Friday at the IWT Latvian Open is available here while a review of all Amateurs and Seniors classes will come on Monday.
Follow all the action from Sunday’s IWT Latvian Open finals on Youtube here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Leigh Sands
