Ranson Stuns Kaptein as Seeds Tumble | IWT La Santa Open

Teenager Holly Ranson stunned top seed Kirsten Kaptein on Sunday, as four of the six seeds fell in the Women’s and Men’s Singles.

Having lost to Kaptein earlier this year, Ranson got her revenge with a sensational tennis performance to win by three points overall.

No.2 seed Alexandra Ogram also fell to fellow Brit Matilda Parslow in the Women’s Singles while both Kresten Hougaard and Duncan Stahl were knocked out of the Men’s Singles.

Women’s Singles – Ranson Masterclass Secures Semi-Final Spot

Undoubtedly the match of the day in the elite classes was between Holly Ranson and Kirsten Kaptein. The two met last month in Prague, with Kaptein winning by 13 points. This time would be a different story.

Kaptein took the table tennis 21-15 and the squash 21-15 but still found herself trailing heading into tennis. That’s because Ranson produced a near-flawless badminton set to win 21-5. Needing 18 on the tennis court, things were looking nervy for Ranson. She found herself trailing 19-14 and, with Kaptein’s racketlon experience, it looked a tough ask.

Ranson held her nerve though, outlasting Kaptein in some brutally long rallies in the heat to win four points in a row and seal the victory by three points. Ranson will now take on Stephanie Chung in the semi-finals after she received a walkover in the first round.

In the other half of the draw, the matches were both very one-sided. In fact, both matches were won by 36 points before tennis. Matilda Parslow got the better of the all-British clash as she took out Alexandra Ogram. Parslow will play Flore Allègre after the rising French talent eliminated Cherisse Lau in emphatic style.

The semi-finals will be played on Monday morning with the final to follow later in the day.

The full Women’s Singles results are available here.

Men’s Singles – Ternon and Griffiths Beat Seeds to Progress

Luke Griffiths and Leon Griffiths could meet in their first Racketlon World Tour final after both progressed to the IWT La Santa Open semi-finals.

Leon Griffiths had just one match on Sunday as he took on Patrick Moran. The American received a walkover to the quarter-finals after Matthew Davidson was forced to withdraw and almost edged the table tennis against the Brit. Eventually, Griffiths won 22-20 before sealing the match with badminton and squash scores of 21-5 and 21-7.

He’ll face Sylvain Ternon in the semi-finals after the French star battled through two matches. Ternon first took out fellow countryman Anthony Duthuillé before outclassing No.4 seed Duncan Stahl in a bruising battle. Stahl won both table tennis and squash but Ternon’s mesmeric badminton guided him to victory. The 21-5 triumph helped him to a +12 victory and a spot in the semi-finals.

In the bottom half, No.2 seed Nicolas Lenggenhager rolled into his fourth semi-finals of the season after defeating Luke Barnes. The Brit had previously beaten James Langworthy but found Lenggenhager too strong, losing by 33 points before tennis. 

Lenggenhager will face Luke Griffiths after the World Champion reached the semi-finals without needing his tennis racket. Griffiths came past Ross Wilson in the opening round by 27 points before taking out Kresten Hougaard by +23 in the quarter-finals.

The semi-finals will take place on Monday morning, with the final taking place later in the day.

The full Men’s Singles results are available here.

The full report from Saturday’s Doubles action is available here.

A full report of all the Amateurs, Juniors and Seniors results will be available later in the week.

Keep up with all the action from the IWT La Santa Open all weekend on FacebookInstagram and Racketlon.net.

Interested in competing on the Racketlon World Tour? The 2023 Racketlon World Tour is now live, with the Thailand Open ChallengerIWT RSL Finnish OpenIWT Nordic Racket Games and IWT Swiss Open all open for player entry.

Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer

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