It was a good day for the French as both Sylvain Ternon and Pauline Cavé claimed the SWT Austrian Open Singles titles.
Cavé claimed the biggest title of her career, winning all her group matches. She showed a dominant performance throughout the tournament, winning all her matches before tennis. Alina Reissenauer won the silver medal, beating bronze medalist Clarissa Steiner +15 (21-16 16-21 21-9 10-7).
Sylvain Ternon took revange of last year, after just losing out on the SWT Austrian Open title to win his third title this season. Ternon battled past Bastian Böhm in the semi-finals by +35 (21-16 21-4 21-8), to take on Simon Vaclahovsky in the final. Vaclahovsky beat no 2 seed Lenggenhager +11 (22-20 17-21 21-11 14-11).
Ternon was too strong in the final for the German player, taking the first two sports 21-11 21-3. Vaclahovsky took squash 21-7 but Ternon only needed 8 points in tennis to seal the match, taking it +15 (21-11 21-3 7-21 8-7).
Nicolas Lenngenhager beat Bastian Böhm for bronze taking the match +29 (21-8 21-13 21-13).
Open titles for – Gergely, Nothegger, Perschinka, Sági
Gergely beat Burcsi in an Hungarian final to claim the men’s B title. He won the match by +31 (21-5 21-6 12-12). Christian Schupp finished third, beating Leon Steiner for bronze +21 (21-3 21-12 10-21 6-1). Romy Nothegger won the women’s B title, beating Karolin Radl +26 (22-20 21-4 21-14). Kahtrin Widu finished third beating Tugsjargal Dashzeveg +3 (12-21 21-13 19-21 21-15).
The men’s C title went to Perschinka who beat Patrik Pluskal in a big battle by +2 (21-14 21-6 5-21 16-20). Thomas Mambrini finished third beating Saso Poljansek. Sági took home the Men’s D title beating Roshan Mishra by only one point in the final. The score was +1 (21-14 10-21 17-21 22-13). Máté Horváth finished third.
Men’s B| Women’s B | Men’s C | Men’s D
Age group titles for – Nothegger, Wieser, Roman, Kotala, Prager, Lesser, Bursci
Romy Nothegger claimed a second title taking the Girls U16 gold medal in a repeat final against Karolin Radl. This time the score was a lot closer but Nothegger was still slightly stronger taking it +12 (22-20 21-19 18-21 21-10). Annemarie Del Favero finished third.
Luis Wieser claimed the U12 title winning all his group matches. Borovička finished second and Gallert finished third. Damian Roman took the U14 title beating Dominik Pluskal +12 (21-10 21-14 16-21 9-10) in an all Czech final. Leon Borchert beat sibling Fynn Borchert for bronze by +8 (16-21 21-16 21-15 15-13).
Andreas Kotala claimed another title beating Markus Perschinka +19 (21-6 12-21 21-8 3-3) to win the U16 category. Robin Sam beat brother Romeo Sam for bronze by +24 (21-13 21-11 21-15). Leonhard Prager claimed the U21 title on home soil beating top seed Matěj Volf bu +24 (21-9 21-11 21-19). Leon Sam finished third.
The new senior world no 1 Keith Lesser won the +40 title beating Matthias Windbacher by just one point taking the match +1 (21-14 18-21 16-21 22-20). Piotr Ostaszyk finished third. The +45 title went to Péter Burcsi who beat Jiří Borovička +17 (21-9 22-20 16-21 13-5). István Sági finished third beating Marc-André Rauber +22 (21-11 21-17 21-13).
Girls U16 | U12 | U14 | U16 | U21 | +40 | +45
Racketlon Unified: A successful inclusion project
A special highlight of the tournament was the ‘Racketlon Unified’ inclusion project. For the first time, teams of players with mixed abilities competed together in the doubles competition and proved that Racketlon as a sport is accessible to all.
The new format, in which pickleball is played instead of squash, was very well received and met with great acclaim both on and off the court. Project manager Sebastian Eggert was delighted with the positive response: ‘It was moving to see how athletes from different backgrounds were able to showcase their skills together. Racketlon Unified has shown that inclusion is not only possible, but also an enrichment for sport.’
The winners of the Racketlon Unified competition were Marcel Weigl & Martin Hörz-Weber, who beat Sebastian Egger & Alexander Hohlrieder in the final. Third place went to Clarissa Steiner & Martin Strassnig, fourth place to Ildiko Kovacs & Alizada Murtaza. ‘It was a brilliant team effort, that’s how I imagine inclusion, playing together on centre court, fighting together, laughing together, having a good time,’ said Martin Hörz-Weber after the first award ceremony in the Racketlon Unified competition.
© RACKETISTA – Das Racketsport Magazin
Another highlight of the Austrian Open 2024 was the final of the ERU Youth Champions League, which was played at prime time on Centre Court on Saturday. The match between the Austrian team SPORTUNION Rackathletes Austria and Junior Racket Crown from the Czech Republic offered exciting and high-class matches, which were streamed live and attracted numerous spectators. The young players demonstrated their impressive skills and proved that they are the future stars of racketlon. The tournament ensured that the young talents were able to compete under the same professional conditions as the elite players – an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. In the end, Sportunion Rackathletes Austria came out on top with +38 (TT: 53-31, BA: 46-35, SQ: 48-44, TE: 20-19) and took first place.
Thanks to Racketlon Austria and ERU for organising such a great event. Don’t forget to enter the last two tournaments of the season:
