Next to the 2023 FIR World Championships there will also be the prestigious IWT London Open taking place at Roehampton this weekend. Due to the doubles championships there will only be singles categories at this year’s event. We have the world’s best, the top five for the men and women present and it will be an exciting weekend to see who will win the London Open titles.
Ahlmer will try to get back-to-back titles, Jacobsen is player to beat in the women’s draw
Anna-Klara Ahlmer won last year’s event and is one of the in-form players this season winning three titles this season out of five finals. She is the second seed for this event, behind world no 1 Stine Jacobsen, who has also won two titles this season.
Ahlmer will play her first match against world no 12 Dara Ladner, as Jacobsen will start her London Open campaign against world no 22 Parslow. Current World Champion Myriam Enmer is the third seed for this event, she will face girls no 1 and women’s world no 9 Ogram in her opening match. The other first-round matches at the bottom half of the draw are between world no 11 Stephanie Chung and world no 7 Flore Allègre, and French Open finalist Jaussein and Hong Kong’s Joyce Chan Tsz Yan.
On the top half of the draw, world no 4 and fourth seed for this event Kaptein will face world no 73 Cavé. The other matches are between world no 41 Clarissa Steiner and world no 51 Alice Flatman, and world no 61 Schickerling and world no 36 Lau.
The women’s matches will start on Saturday at 10:15 AM. The draw can be found here
Hageraats back for a second London Open title
Hageraats is the fourth seed for this event but will try to surpass his seeding like last year to win his second London Open title. This will be the first singles match for the Dutchman this season, after being out with an injury since February. He will play his first match against either Léon Mamié or Mandrin Mouchet.
World no 1 Leon Griffiths is the top seed, he also receives a bye in the first round and will play Radermacher or Davidson. It could be a potential all-Griffiths quarter-final. Leon and Luke have both won one title each so far, and Luke Griffiths is the sixth seed for this event and on his brother’s side of the draw. Luke has to battle past Böhm or Narayanaswamy, who are both in form so far this season. The other first-round match will be between world no 23 Sion Wiggin and world no 36 Malte Thyregod. The winner will play fifth seed and 2023 Finnish Open Champion Luka Penttinen.
On the bottom half of the draw world no 2 Jaksland is the second seed for the event. He will play world no 30 Mamié or wildcard Kainulainen in his first match. He potentially faces eighth seed Harca in the quarter-finals, if Harca wins his match against either world no 25 Langworthy or wildcard Ross Wilson. The other first-round matches are between world no 31 Joel Pennanen and world no 22 Anthony Duthuillé to play seventh Kresten Hougaard, and world no 16 Plettenberg and wildcard Henrik Mustonen to play third seed Nicolas Lenggenhager.
The first men’s matches will start on Friday at 1:15PM and will follow on Saturday at 11:30AM. The full draw can be found here
The other draws can be found here
Sanne Veldkamp/FIR Media Officer
