Koen Hageraats has produced the best result of his career so far after beating World No.1 Morten Jaksland at the IWT German Open.
Hageraats’ victory was one of a number of shocks on Saturday as the top three seeds – Jaksland, Nicolas Lenggenhager and Oliver Bühler – were all knocked out before the semi-finals.
In the Women’s Singles, top seeds Stine Jacobsen and Nathalie Vogel are ready for a historic Sunday Showdown after both winning their two matches on Saturday.
Men’s Singles – Hageraats Beats Jaksland on Dramatic Saturday
Koen Hageraats has spent much of the last 12 months breaking new ground. Last year, he won his first title with the IWT Dunlop Rotterdam Open. Last month, he won the IWT London Open to move him up to No.11 in the Racketlon World Rankings. Now, he’s beaten the World No.1.
The No.5 seeded Dutchman opened with a hard-fought win over Simon Vaclahovksy to set up the quarter-final date with Jaksland. The World No.1 had taken out IWT Swiss Open champion Martin Sopko after the Czech star beat Great Britain’s, Matthew Haynes.
It’s no secret that Hageraats is a ferocious table tennis player. That skill was on full display in the blockbuster quarter-final. Hageraats crushed Jaksland 21-2. The Dane hit back on the badminton court, winning 21-16. That would not be enough.
Hageraats produced an impeccable squash set, stunning Jaksland 21-10. Not only did the Dutchman win, but he did it before tennis.
In the semi-final, Hageraats will play Cornelius Radermacher, the highest seed remaining. Radermacher had a relatively straightforward Saturday, fending off the challenges of Sion Wiggin and Adarsh Vikram Narayanaswamy.
There’s a level of symmetry to this semi-final. Last year, Radermacher beat Narayanswamy to reach the Dunlop Rotterdam Open semi-finals. Who did he face there? Koen Hageraats! Hageraats won by 18 points on that day. Will it be repeate or revenge as the two clash again?
Men’s Singles – Wiessner and Harca into Semi-Finals
The drama wasn’t exclusive to the top half of the draw. Seeds Oliver Bühler and René Lindberg both fell at the first hurdle in the bottom half. Their conquerors were a pair of Germans, who shone at their home tournament to set up a meeting against each other.
Christian Wiessner dominated the badminton and squash to take out Bühler. Meanwhile, Max Plettenberg controlled Lindberg on the squash court to eliminate him and reach yet another quarter-final. In the all-German quarter-final that followed, it would be Wiessner that would prevail.
The more experienced German dominated the badminton and tennis to beat Plettenberg and put himself in the first Men’s Singles semi-final since the IWT German Open three years ago. On that occasion, he missed out on a medal after losing to Morten Jaksland.
Florian Harca continued his racketlon ascension with a dominant display in the final quarter. He made short work of Korbinian Heim in the quarter-finals before producing a superb comeback to take down No.2 seed Nicolas Lenggenhager in the quarter-finals.
Lenggenhager had already had to work hard in his opening match. Fellow Swiss player Noah Mamié had won his opener, and pushed Lenggenhager hard in the quarter-finals, eventually losing by just eight points.
Lenggenhager and Harca have a fascinating head-to-head record. They have each won three matches but have alternated victories each time. With Lenggenhager winning just last month at the IWT London Open, it was Harca’s turn for victory. His result was centred around an eye-catching 21-6 tennis victory that saw him over the line by eight points.
Harca and Wiessner have never met before on a singles court. However, they did face-off on Friday on the Doubles court, with Harca winning alongside
The full Men’s Singles results are available here.
Women’s Singles – Jacobsen and Vogel Set Up World Championship Showdown
It’s been a long time since two World Champions collided on the Racketlon World Tour. In fact, 2016 was the last time that two Women’s Singles World Champions played each other. Christine Seehofer-Krenn beat Nathalie Vogel on that occasion.
That run comes to an end on Sunday as Stine Jacobsen faces Nathalie Vogel for the German Open title. While the showdown was inevitable due to the box league, the fact that it is for the title was not. Both had to win on Saturday.
Jacobsen kicked things off with a victory against Kirsten Kaptein. It wasn’t completely plain sailing. The Dutch woman won the table tennis 21-9 to force Jacobsen to play five points of tennis.
Nathalie Vogel then matches Jacobsen by beating Adeline Kilchenmann. The Swiss player won the badminton 22-20, but it was Vogel that won by 26 points before tennis.
In fact, Vogel kept her tennis rackets in her bag all day after beating Kaptein before tennis. Jacobsen didn’t need her tennis racket in her final match against Kilchenmann.
Two wins apiece leave Vogel and Jacobsen set for a first career meeting. One of them will enjoy a perfect World Championships warm-up as each looks to add another trophy to their large selection. On Sunday, we’ll discover who that is.
The full Women’s Singles results are available here.
Catch up on all the action from Doubles Day as Morten Jaksland won two titles.
A full report from all of the Juniors, Seniors & Amateurs categories will be available on Monday.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Leigh Sands
