Day 1 in Montreuil is complete and we have players from four different countries winning the elite Doubles categories.
Bastian Böhm from Germany teamed up with Kresten Hougaard from Denmark to take out the Men’s Doubles, whilst Frenchwoman Myriam Enmer & Dutchman Koen Hageraats were successful in the Mixed.
French pairs make perfect start in the Men’s Doubles
Local supporters would have been thrilled with the start of proceedings, with all three French pairs winning their round 1 clashes. This included a Gummiarm victory Eric Durand & Jean Michot against Dutch pair Koen Hageraats & Guidi Weijel.
Durand & Michot were unable to continue their run, meeting number 1 seeds in the semi finals. Bastian Böhm & Kresten Hougaard won the match before tennis.
The other semi final was anyone’s game. The two French pairs were closely matched in all four sports and whoever won tennis would win the match. Julien Castel & Thomas Cavé ultimately prevailed 21/18 to defeat Anthony Duthuillé & Stephane Quiquempois by just 2 points!
Castel & Cavé battled hard in the final too, narrowly going down 23/21 in the badminton. It wasn’t until the tennis that Böhm & Hougaard pulled away. Needing 18 points for victory, the German/Danish pair won 18/9 to win their first title together.
It is a 4th Eliter Men’s Doubles title for Bastian Böhm, after he won in Zurich, Augsburg & Graz last year. Kresten Hougaard’s moves to equal 7th with Austrian Lukas Windischberger on the all time list after topping the podium in Men’s Doubles for the 17th time.
But the pair didn’t have time to celebrate, Böhm playing the Juniors u21 (which he also won!) and Hougaard in the Mixed.
Mixed Doubles
The Dane said he was “down to earth quickly again” after a disappointing first round loss in the Mixed. Teaming up with defending champion, Pauline Cavé, they were unable to gain any traction against Myriam Enmer & Koen Hageraats. The French/Dutch pair winning all four sports to book their spot in the final.
Meanwhile, the Marie Jaussein & Nicolas Lenggenhager won their first round match before tennis, against international racketlon debutants, Anaïs Ben Mansour & Jean-François Aubert.
Enmer & Hageraats picked up a 12-point lead in the final after a solid table tennis performance. Unsurprisingly, Jaussein & Lenggenhager returned the favour in badminton and the scores were level heading into squash. A dominant performance from the French/Dutch pair in the squash meant they only needed 9 in tennis – Myriam’s strongest sport. The pair won 9/4 to win their first title together since the 2022 London Open.
Koen has just the two Mixed titles to his name, whereas it was a 4th title for Myriam.
Action continues at the French Open today, with the singles categories.
