We are ready for the first IWT tournament of the year, the IWT Polish Open, which is starting this Friday. A busy tournament schedule awaits, 84 players participating in Warsaw.
Lindberg aiming for back-to-back titles
René Lindberg will be looking for back-to-back titles after winning the CHA Finnish Open, and after he won the Polish Open last year. He comes in as the second seed this year, sitting at his highest world ranking of world no 6. It is a strong draw. Dutchman Koen Hageraats is the top seed for this event and he will be looking for his first title since 2022. 2023 saw him on the sidelines for a big part of the season due to injury.
Hageraats will play his first match against wildcard Rav Rykowski [WC], which will be one of the matches to watch on Saturday. Rav has been out of action on the IWT tour for a few years now, but is a strong player with no ranking. He won the 2017 European Championships and can’t be underestimated. The winner is potentially facing Jesper Hedlund in the quarter finals if all goes to seeding. Kresten Hougaard is the no 3 seed for this event, and will take on Greg Lorkiewicz [WC] before a potential all Danish quarter-final against doubles partner Malte Thyregod, or junior world no 3 Bastian Böhm.
Mandrin Mouchet is the no 4 seed, and has had some good runs in Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia. He plays Michał Kurek in his first round, the winner faces either Martin Sopko or Michal Horácek in the quarter finals. René Lindberg will have a tough first round against Joerg Kanonenberg, who pushed Henrik Mustonen all the way in La Santa a few months ago.
World no 1 Anna-Klara Ahlmer aiming for consecutive Polish Open titles
World no 1 Anna-Klara Ahlmer is the heavy favourite for this event, as she aims to win back-to-back titles in Poland. She started the 2024 strong by dominating the CHA Finnish Open, barely having to play tennis on her way to victory. She will take on world no 4 Kirsten Kaptein, Fabienne Dony and Lucie Hlavacova. Dony is back on tour after a 3 year break, she finished third in Finland and it will be interesting to see what she can do this weekend.
For Hlavacova and Kaptein this will be their first tournament of 2024.