Hamburg will be host an international racketlon tournament for the first time this weekend. It may only be a Satellite tournament, but that didn’t stop the players – the tournament is fully subscribed. Let’s take a look at the elite draws!
First up is the Mixed Doubles. It’s a 4-pair draw that is difficult to pick a winner. The only pair that has played together before on the World Tour is Spaniard Katherine Serrano & Austrian Stefan Urban. They face Nordic duo Emilia Kostiainen & Jesper Hedlund. Anna-Klara Ahlmer will play with Thorsten Lentfer, who is replacing the injured Michi Dickert. They play Germans Hannah Weitz & Joerg Kanonenberg.
The Men’s Doubles is another 4-pair draw. Tournament Director Max Oldehaver & Dane Malte Thyregod are going to be tough to beat.
6 women are split into two pools in the Women’s Singles draw. There will be World Tour debuts for Cecilia Ödén from Sweden and Hannah Weitz from Germany. Cecilia joins fellow Swede, Anna-Klara Ahlmer and Spaniard Katherine Serrano in Group A. Last time Anna-Klara played Katherine Serrano was in Istanbul last month, Anna-Klara won before tennis.
Hannah joins Kirsten I. Kaptein from the Netherlands and Emilia Kostiainen from Finland in Group B. Last time Kirsten and Emilia played was in Finland earlier this year – Kirsten won before tennis. Following the group matches, all players will have one more match to determine final places.
13 men will contest the Men’s Singles draw. The top 3 seeds will receive byes into the quarter finals whilst the other 10 players will need to win 4 matches to win the title.
Germans Christoph Bednarz and Julius Benthin will be playing their first FIR World Tour event since 2014 & 2016 respectively. They’ll play each other in round 1, before the winner takes on top seed, Joerg Kanonenberg.
In the second quarter, Thorsten Lentfer may pose a threat to third seed, Matthias Windbacher. But first, Thorsten will have to get past Indian Nihit Kumar Singh.
The third quarter of the draw is stacked! Fourth seed Jesper Hedlund will play Stefan Urban in round 1, whilst Austrian Johannes Sgiarovello will play Tournament Director Max Oldehaver.
In the final quarter, we have second seed Malte Thyregod from Denmark. Malte recently jumped into the top 20 in the world for the first time. He will play either Thorsten Bäumer or Michal Horácek in the quarter finals.
