Anna-Klara Ahlmer & Joerg Kanonenberg have won in Hamburg over the weekend, in the last tournament before the World Championships for Singles & Teams. But first of all, let’s take a look at the doubles results!
Mixed Doubles
Anna-Klara Ahlmer & Thorsten Lentfer were pushed in their opening match against Hannah Weitz & Joerg Kanonenberg, whereas the final was more comfortable. They defeated Katherine Serrano & Stefan Urban by 23 points. Perhaps this match may have been a lot closer if Katherine & Stefan were able to make it to tennis. The Spanish/Austrian pair played some very impressive tennis in their opening match, defeating Emilia Kostiainen & Jesper Hedlund, 15-3.
It is a first elite World Tour title for Thorsten Lentfer, after picking up a silver medal in each of the last two German Opens – one in Men’s Singles and one in Men’s Doubles.
Men’s Doubles
The highlight of the opening matches was a Gummiarm victory to Michal Horácek & Nihit Kumar Singh over Johannes Sgiarovello & Matthias Windbacher. Despite losing the tennis 21-6, the Czech/Indian combination regrouped to win the sudden death point against the Austrians.
It was a much more clinical victory from Max Oldehaver & Malte Thyregod against Danish pair Martin Holdt & Kim Ljungberg-Jensen, winning by 25 points. Max & Malte carried this momentum to the final and defeated Michal & Nihit by 30 points.
Women’s Singles
6 women contested two groups of three, before the two top seeds played each other in the final. However, World Number 4 Kirsten I. Kaptein was pushed in her group match against German debutant Hannah Weitz. It was a strong start for the Dutchwoman winning table tennis 21-2, before Weitz won badminton 21-1. Despite winning squash, Kirsten still needed 16 in tennis to win, which she managed at 16-18. In Group A, Anna-Klara Ahlmer won both matches by big margins.
The Swede carried this momentum through to the final, winning the first three sports comfortably. So the World Number 1 completed the entire singles event without needing her tennis racquet!
We caught up with Anna-Klara after the game.
“I’m feeling good. Hamburg was a good way to get some matches in before the World Champs. I’m happy how I kept focus and played very disciplined,” she said.
“Now I will combine some vacation with training and hopefully keep the good shape for Rotterdam.”
Meanwhile, Katherine Serrano defeated Hannah Weitz for the bronze medal.
Men’s Singles
The first upset in the Men’s Singles draw was in the quarter finals when German Thorsten Lentfer defeated third seed Matthias Windbacher by 17 points. Second seed Malte Thyregod almost fell at the same stage, needing a Gummiarm tiebreak to defeat Czech Michal Horácek.
These two players were both eliminated in the semi finals, Thorsten lost to countryman Joerg Kanonenberg and Swede Jesper Hedlund defeated Malte by just 4 points.
It was the Swede who took the lead in the final, taking table tennis 21-9. Despite losing the set, Joerg described his 9 points as “a very good score against a player like Jesper.”
Although close at first, Joerg managed to pull away and get a good lead in the badminton to level the scores.
“I knew that squash was going to be a tight one with a lot of rallies because earlier in the day, we had already played half a set in the mixed,” said Joerg.
The German took a lead in the first half and it was 11-7 at the break. Jesper played some really good shots and even held a 14-12 lead of his own, before Joerg managed to re-focus and win 21-19.
With a lead of two points going into the World Number 3’s strongest sport, it was going to be tough for Jesper to win. The German ultimately won the tennis 21-11 and the match by 12 points.
Speaking to Joerg after the match, he suggested there weren’t any crucial moments in the final as such, “but rather keeping a good focus throughout most of the match.”
“A relatively equal score before tennis is usually quite comfortable for me because it means I just have to win the tennis without thinking too much about the score.”
Full results: Mixed Doubles | Men’s Doubles | Men’s Singles | Women’s Singles – Group A, Group B, Playoffs
