Zuzana
It was a straightforward title defence for
Lenggenhager produced a superb comeback in his final against Jakub Svec, recovering from a 21-2 table tennis defeat. The Swiss star, who has lost two previous finals this season, held his nerve with an array of superb volleying to win the tennis set 21-18 and win by four points overall.
That is Lenggenhager’s first elite Men’s Singles title of his career, capping a superb weekend as he achieved the same feat in the Mixed Doubles.
Men’s Singles – Lenggenhager Wins First Career Singles Title
All eyes in the build-up to this final had been on Jakub Svec’s eye-catching breakthrough as he rolled through the draw on his elite debut. That meant not enough attention had been paid to Nicolas Lenggehager’s impressive performances on the way to the final.
Nerves did not appear to be a factor for Svec at the start of the final though. The Czech player came racing out of the blocks, leading 11-0 at the halfway point in the table tennis. Lenggenhager snuck a handful of points in the second half but Svec was relentless. His high-energy style saw him secure a superb 21-2 victory.
Svec’s lead was reduced to just three points after badminton. Lenggenhager was typically emphatic, winning 21-5 to leave the match in the balance with squash and tennis still to play.
Svec looked like he was going to dominate the squash in a similar fashion to the table tennis when he led 8-1. Lenggenhager began to battle back, trailing 11-6 at the change of ends after finding his depth. In the end, Lenggenhager was near faultless. He barely made a mistake to fight back against Svec, taking the squash 21-17 to lead by one point heading to the tennis court.
After the lopsided nature of the first two sports, tennis followed squash in being a fierce battle. Svec had produced some superb tennis results over the weekend but it was Lenggehager who led 11-9 at the change of ends. The Swiss talent repeatedly came to the net and volleyed superbly.
In the second half, Svec closed the gap quickly, drawing level at 12-12. Lenggenhager won the next three points to lead 15-12 and kept that lead until the end of the match. Eventually, Lenggenhager closed out the match 21-18 ahead of a warm embrace between the two at the net.
Lenggenhager’s season doesn’t end in Prague. The Swiss No.1 heads to Lanzarote next month as he attempts to win a second career title after his superb IWT Czech Open triumph.
The full results from the Men’s Singles are available here.
Women’s Singles –
Few of
After wins over Kirsten Kaptein and Holly Ranson on Saturday, a victory over Virág Sákovics would have been enough for the title on Sunday. In the end, it was an emphatic 21-7, 21-8, 21-10 win to successfully defend her crown.
Kaptein beat Ranson by 13 points to finish with the silver medal, while Sákovics took the bronze medal.
The full Women’s Singles results are available here.
Friday’s Doubles report is available here while the Singles Saturday report is available here.
A full report from the Amateurs, Juniors and Seniors categories will be available on Racketlon.net on Monday.
Interested in competing on the 2022 Racketlon World Tour? December’s La Santa Open is the final tournament of the year and is available to enter here. The 2023 Racketlon World Tour is also available here, with tournament entries opening soon.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image / Filip Rejthar
