We’re kicking off with the men’s elite tomorrow at 5:00PM (GMT+2). Will it be a third title in a row for Luke Griffiths, a seventh title for Ratzer, or will we see a new name on the trophy? Plenty of good players to choose from!
Defending champion Luke Griffiths will kick off his title defence against the world no 56 Jimmy Tay from Sweden at 5:00 PM (GMT+2) on centre court. His potential round two opponent will be world no 13 Henrik Mustonen or wildcard Paul Sach. Last time he played Mustonen was a very close game at the Nordic Racket Games, which went all the way. A possible exciting match to look forward to if both players win their first round matches.
Hong Kong Open Champion Kevin Ng will take on Damien Andre in his first round match, they played at the French Open this year which went to Damien Andre +15 (18-21 21-17 21-10 10-7). World no 8 Mandrin Mouchet will take on Mohammed Tarik Koubaa. Mouchet is leading 3-0 in the head-to-head but they have had some tough and entertaining matches!
World no 5 Rene Lindberg takes on world no 15 Max Oldehaver. Rene leads 2-1 in the h2h but the last time they played was at the 2023 Nordic Racket Games. The winner plays either six time world champion Jesper Ratzer or world no 41 Thorsten Lentfer. Both very experienced players who have met in doubles but not in singles.
The last two matches of the top half of the draw are between world no 31 Patrick Oettl and world no 20 Michał Kurek and wildcard Botond Francia and no 3 seed Koen Hageraats.
On the bottom half of the draw, no 4 seed Nicolas Lenngenhager takes on junior top 5 player Matěj Volf whilst Léon Mamié takes on one of the most in-form players this season world no 12 Joerg Kanonenberg.
World no 54 Christian Wiessner takes on wildcard and former top 10 player Dan Busby who has been less active on tour over the last few years. However he can’t be underestimated. The winner of that match will play either Malte Thyregod or Simon Vaclahovsky who have a repeat match of their round 2 clash last year. An incredibly close match that went to Thyregod in a gummi-arm as he took it +1 (18-21 21-5 1-21 22-15) and will be definitely one to watch tomorrow.
Seventh seed Kresten Hougaard takes on world no 21 Matt Davidson, who has had a bit of a breakthrough this season getting to the final in France and winning the SAT Irish Open. They have played at the last two World Championships which have both gone to Kresten, but a closer match the second time round.
The winner of that match plays either Noah Mamié or Lucas Steyer, they played in La Santa last December which resulted in a +14 (21-9 18-21 21-15 7-8) victory for Mamié.
The last two matches on the bottom half of the draw are between Cornelius Radermacher who made the final in Austria last week and Jesper Hedlund. The winner of that match will play world no 1 Sylvain Ternon provided he wins his match against junior no 2 and world no 14 Bastian Böhm. Sylvain is leading 3-0 in the h2h and is going all in for this World Championships.
We can’t wait to get started tomorrow. Keep an eye on our social media accounts and make sure to tune into the livestream from 3PM onwards!
