Welcome to Helsinki – for the third World Tour event of the year. This will be the first event of 2025 for most of the competitors, after the first two events were held in Oceania and Asia.
Women’s Singles: Anna-Klara aiming to win her 5th Finnish Open
Anna-Klara Ahlmer is returning to defend her Finnish Open title. The World Number 1 will have fond memories of competing in Finland, having lifted her first ever elite World Tour singles title here in 2015. She also won in 2018, 2019 and of course, 2024. But she’s hungry for more!
The most likely to stop Anna-Klara would be Kirsten Kaptein. Kirsten is returning to Finland for the first time since coming runner up in 2019. The World Number 4 will face her doubles partner, Viivi Paksu in round 1. Viivi has represented Finland for squash and defeated Steph Chung at the 2023 Finnish Open. Could she pull off another win against a top 10 opponent?
Kirsten is also in the same half of the draw as Kaisu Anttila, who defeated Holly Ranson on her way to a silver medal in the Women’s Singles last year.
Men’s Singles: New name on the trophy
Henrik Mustonen, who shocked everyone when he won the Finnish Open in 2018, is the only former Men’s Singles champion bringing his racquets to Helsinki this weekend. However, the former squash pro will only be appearing in the doubles. So, we will have a new champion!
The six players competing in the Men’s Singles will be split into two pools of 3.
The top seed is Frenchman, Mandrin Mouchet. Joining Mandrin in Group A will be local Jesse Kiljunen and Piotr Ostaszyk from Poland. Jesse came second in last year’s Finnish Open and is also a former Under 16 & Under 18 World Champion.
Swiss junior, Andreas Kotala, is the second seed. Andreas picked up three singles titles in 2024: two in Under 16s and one in B Grade. Joining Andreas in Group B will be Keith Lesser from Great Britain and local wildcard Toni Ruokanen. Keith won two +40 titles in 2024, whilst Toni is the defending B Grade Champion here in Finland.
The winners of each pool will play each other in the final on Sunday.
Men’s, Women’s & Mixed Doubles to be played on Friday
Doubles action returns to Helsinki with the Men’s and Women’s Doubles in the afternoon, followed by the Mixed Doubles in the evening.
Pekka Kainulainen and Henrik Mustonen are looking strong for the Men’s title, having played together plenty of times before. Kaisu Anttila and Linnea Koskinen are top seeds and home favourites for the Women’s title.
Henrik Mustonen will be looking to add to his 2018 and 2019 Mixed Doubles titles. This year he is teaming up with Katherine Serrano from Spain.
Follow all the draws on Tournament Software.
