A busy second day at the IWT Czech Open comes to an end, as Kirsten Kaptein wins her second IWT singles title and the men’s final is decided.
Kaptein is the new Czech Open women’s singles champion
A first gold medal this weekend for Kaptein as she was victorious again today in the women’s elite. She won her first match against Sandra Ettenauer +18 (18-21 21-9 21-11 3-4), before facing second seed and doubles partner this weekend, Dara Ladner, in her second match. Kaptein got off to a good start and never let Ladner get into the match, winning table tennis 21-7, badminton 21-13, and squash 21-14, taking the match +29 (21-7 21-13 21-14). Dara Ladner defeated Sandra Ettenauer to take the silver medal. +22 (10-21 21-2 21-7).
Unfortunately, Heike Voigt had to retire in her match against Ladner and was not able to play any other matches.
Top seeds Griffiths and Hageraats will face each other in the final
The men’s elite also kicked off today, with some matches already being played yesterday afternoon. Top seed Leon Griffiths won his first match against Martin Sopko +14 (20-22 21-9 10-6 retired) who unfortunately had to retire during squash. Griffiths played wildcard Paul Sach in the quarter-finals after Sach defeated Stanek +26 (21-13 21-17 21-7). Sach got off to a good start taking table tennis 21-14 against the world no 1, but couldn’t get close in badminton and squash, resulting in a +21 (14-21 21-8 21-7 2-1) victory for Griffiths.
His semi-final opponent was no 3 seed Simon Vaclahovsky, who defeated Horácek +22 (21-16 21-18 21-7) in his first round, and up-and-coming player Volf +32 (21-9 21-18 21-4). The last time Griffiths and Vaclahovsky played was in March at the French Open, where Leon won the match 10 (21-17 21-7 13-21 12-12). Leon got a head start in the semi-finals, taking table tennis 21-16 and badminton 21-8 going into squash with a +18 lead and a similar score to their French Open match. Vaclahovsky took squash 21-16 but by then Griffiths needed 9 points in tennis which he did, taking the match +20 (21-16 21-8 16-21 9-2) to book his place in another final this season.
On the bottom half of the draw, second seed Hageraats got through his first two rounds quite comfortably. Beating wildcard Knaack +35 (21-3 21-17 21-8) in his first round and Jakub Svec, who had a tough battle against Ross Wilson in the last 16, +31 (21-14 21-8 21-10) in the quarter-finals. His semi-final opponent was Koubaa, who got the better of no 4 seed Böhm, taking the match +23 (21-13 21-15 21-12). Hageraats and Koubaa last played at the FIR Racketlon World Championships in Rotterdam, where Hageraats won +43 (21-7 21-8 21-5). Koubaa got a lot closer this time, especially making life a lot harder for Hageraats in badminton which was 21-17. Hageraats showed a dominant performance in squash, taking it 21-7 and the match +27 (21-12 21-17 21-7) to make his first final of the season.
The men’s final will be at 15:00 (GMT +2) tomorrow and will be live-streamed on the Czech Racketlon facebook page. Matches can also be followed on weblivescore.com.
Photo’s from the Czech Open can be found here
