Witaj w Warszawie was the cry as the FIR World Tour ramped up with the first IWT event of the year, the Polish Open in Warsaw. While the weekend will be filled with players seeking singles glory, day 1 is as ever traditionally focussed on Doubles. With just two months to the FIR World Doubles Championships in Copenhagen, it was a day filled with the intrigue of seeing who was looking in the best shape, who is making the early running of being a World Champion? With a round up of a day, here is James Pope.
Doubles Delight for Dony & Ahlmer
Sweden’s World Number 1, Anna-Klara Ahlmer joined forces with Holland’s Fabienne Dony to clinch the IWT Polish Open’s Women’s Elite Doubles title on Day 1 in Warsaw. Seeded second, the pair never looked troubled overcoming the challenge of Polish-Hungarian pairing Mika & Majoros in the opening match before facing World Number 2, Holland’s Kirsten Kaptein & Poland’s Dominika Patrzek in the final. After coming through a hard challenge in the TT and badminton, Dony/Ahlmer bossed the squash (21-8) to secure the title. There was more joy for Scandinavia as Norway’s Victoria Mai & France’s Phet Phanouvong secured third place.
It will be a rematch for Ahlmer & Kaptein in Saturday mornings Elite Mixed Doubles final as Anna-Klara (partnered by Dane Malte Thyregod) and Kirsten (partnered by Pole Greg Lorkiewicz) both reached the final. With great irony both ladies faced their Women’s Doubles partners in the semi-finals. Ahlmer/Thyregod faced Dutch pairing Dony & Koen Hageraats, which resulted in a very close and very classic Racketlon match. The Dutch pairing took the TT and Squash (21-9 and 21-14) while the Scandinavians took the Badminton 21-6 and held their nerve in the Tennis (21-13) to secure a 4 point win, two sports each, every point counted! It was a smoother journey for Kaptein & Lorkiewicz, TT and Badminton wins over Polish duo Patrzek & Michal Kurek, meaning after a narrow squash defeat they were 9 points up into the Tennis, and keeping the Poles in sight they eased into the final.
That match is 9:20 am on Saturday, will it be “zemsta” (zem-stah = revenge) for Kaptein or “jeszcze jeden” (yes-chay yed-an = another one) for Ahlmer?
The Men’s Elite Doubles final is also a Saturday morning affair featuring Danish pairing Thyregod & Kresten Hougaard against German pairing Korbinian Heim & Joerg Kanonenberg. The Germans made serene progress polishing off Czech pair Port & Volf with ease and then Polish pair Kurek & Siperek before tennis. It was less serene for the Danes. They were cruising against Polish pair Sowa & Stolicki, the Warsaw mermaid being overshadowed by her Copenhagen sister. Kresten & Malte were 19 up into tennis, but Tiger roared and Norbert fought and they battled hard in the tennis set. However, in the end the Danish mermaid made it over the line to secure the win. They faced a Swedish pair in the semi-final, familiar foes Hedlund & Lindberg, and enjoyed a good old Racketlon match, bigger wins for the Danes in the Badminton and Tennis ensuring that it was they who would have an 11am Saturday morning date with the final.
No Electing This King
Prior to its initial partition in 1772, the Kings of Poland were elected from a pool of potential leaders. However, there is only one King in Racketlon, Switzerland’s Graham. Partnered by fellow Swiss Manfred Grab, the pair romped to the O45s Men’s Doubles title, overcoming Polish pairing Kolodziejski & Pastuszka and then Germany’s Christian Borner & Poland’s Martin Lorkiewicz in their next match, the German-Polish pairing securing second place.
Christian found time between finishing second in the O45s Doubles to secure the title in a 8-pairing Men’s B Doubles, where he partnered France’s Bertrand Carlier in a final against Polish pairing Milosz Duzynski & Bartosz Panek. Borner/Carlier stormed into a health lead, 21-15 in the TT and 21-10 in the Badminton to be 17 points up into Squash, where a narrow 21-19 defeat left them needing just 7 for victory in the tennis. In the end they were probably glad it wasn’t many more, as the Poles piled on the pressure to get within 6 points of the win for themselves, before Christian and Bertrand secured the win.
The Mixed B Doubles will see a Saturday morning final between Norwegian pairing Victoria Mai & Ola Ulmo against French/Polish pairing Phet Phanouvong & Maciej Gul, who both overcame Czech pairs to reach the final. Phanouvong & Gul saw off second seeds Beranova & Jendrejek thanks to strong domination in the Badminton especially, while the top seeded Norwegians saw off Del Favero & Zobac, after an impressive TT tussle (23-21 to Norway), Ola and Victoria dominated the Badminton to secure their place in the final, scheduled for 9am on Saturday morning (probably best to go easy on the local Wodka tonight….)
Looking Ahead to the Saturday Singles
The Men’s A draw looks especially tasty, it is headed by World Number 5 and 2022 World Champs finalist, Koen Hageraats. Koen faces a local wildcard, ranked 122 in the world, so probably a nice gentle opener? Unfortunately for Koen, he faces 2017 European Champion, Rav Rykowski, what does the 2017 champion have in his locker against the flying Dutchman? Kresten Hougaard (Denmark) and Mandrin Mouchet (France) as third and fourth seeds are also facing Poles with opponents Greg Lorkiewicz and Michal Kurek respectively. At the bottom of the draw, second seed, Rene Lindberg faces Germany’s Joerg Kanonenberg, however it is probably the top half of the draw that holds interest for the future of Racketlon with young stars Bastian Bohm (Germany) and Matej Volf (Czechia) in action.
The Women’s A will be a four lady round robin, and it will probably hinge on the Saturday late lunch match, top seeds Anna-Klara Ahlmer and Kirsten Kaptein. Anna-Klara is one up, and two more victories over Kirsten tomorrow will surely secure her a Triple Crown!
Finally, apologies to my in-laws, Polish friends and my wife for any poor Polish spelling in this article, back to Duolingo for me!
