Holly Ranson from Great Britain has won two titles on day 1 at the Czech Open. First, with compatriot Mollie Patterson in the Women’s Doubles, before teaming up with Malte Thyregod from Denmark to win the Mixed. It was more good news for the Brits in the Men’s Doubles, as Leon Griffiths & Ross Wilson won the title. Here’s how it happened.
Women’s Doubles: Ranson & Patterson dominate
Holly & Mollie’s first match was against Dutch/Swiss duo Kirsten Kaptein & Adeline Kilchenmann. Kirsten & Adeline had already defeated Swiss/Austrian pair Dara Ladner & Clarissa Steiner earlier that morning, so this match was arguably the final.
The Brits started strongly, recording wins in table tennis and badminton. Kirsten & Adeline fought back to win the squash, leaving Holly & Mollie needing 14 in tennis, which they achieved 14-10.
Then the British pair needed to beat Dara & Clarissa to secure the gold medal. They did so emphatically, winning by 34 points.
This is Holly Ranson’s 3rd elite Women’s Doubles title and Mollie Patterson’s 2nd.
Men’s Doubles: 2023 Champions collect another Czech Open together
6 pairs competed, with the top 2 seeds having a first round bye. Top seeds Bastian Böhm & Malte Thyregod defeated Czech pair Jakub Svec & Matěj Volf by 14 points in their semi final.
In the bottom half of the draw, Leon Griffiths & Ross Wilson defeated Czechs Rostislav Kniezek & Šimon Kniezek in round 1, before their semi final against second seeds Andreas Kotala & Cornelius Ried. The Brits lost table tennis to Andreas & Cornelius, but recovered to win by 16 points.
In the final, Bastian & Malte won table tennis, but once again, Leon & Ross recovered well in the badminton and squash and won the match by 17 points.
It’s a 2nd elite Men’s Doubles title for Ross Wilson, his first doubles title was also in the Czech Open, with Leon Griffiths two years ago. Leon’s total now moves to 26 – one behind racketlon legends, Christoph Krenn from Austria and Jesper Ratzer from Denmark.
Women’s Champions meet in Mixed Doubles semi final
Another 6 pair draw once again meant the top 2 seeds had a first round bye.
The top seeds from Switzerland, Adeline Kilchenmann & Nicolas Lenggenhager, had no problems in the semi final, defeating Dutch/Czech pair Kirsten Kaptein & Matěj Volf by 23 points.
Whereas the second seeds, Mollie Patterson & Bastian Böhm, perhaps didn’t win table tennis by enough against Holly Ranson & Malte Thyregod. The British/Danish duo won badminton 21-7 and never looked back, closing out the match halfway through tennis.
Holly & Malte started the final strongly, winning the table tennis and badminton by small margins. Adeline & Nicolas won the squash and brought the margin back to 3 points, before the Brit & Dane won the tennis 19-11.
It is Holly Ranson’s 5th elite Mixed Doubles title and Malte Thyregod’s 4th, but the pair’s first together.
Results: Women’s Doubles | Men’s Doubles | Mixed Doubles
Both seeds defeated in Women’s Singles semi finals
Anaïs Ben Mansour from France has ended Holly Ranson’s hopes of winning three titles in a weekend. Anaïs was trailing the semi final by 4 points, before winning the tennis 21-7. Earlier, the Frenchwoman defeated Dara Ladner from Switzerland by 22 points.
After knocking out Norwegian Open Champion, Adeline Kilchenmann, in round 1, Mollie Patterson from Great Britain continued her strong form to beat top seed Kirsten Kaptein from the Netherlands. Kirsten wins most of her table tennis sets on the World Tour, but not against Mollie, who was on the England junior pathway for table tennis before she started playing racketlon. The Brit won table tennis 21-6 and edged wins in the middle two sports to win the match by 21 points.
Anaïs Ben Mansour and Mollie Patterson have met once on the World Tour, two months ago in the final of the Nations Cup. Mollie won by 6 points that day, but they’ll be playing each set to 21 points, rather than to 11.
Both women are yet to win an elite World Tour title! The final is scheduled for 11:00 AM Czech time.
Mayhem in the Men’s Singles draw, only two seeds remain
Top seed Leon Griffiths has progressed to the semi finals, with wins over wildcard Cornelius Ried and World Number 11, Molnár Gergely. But the other top seeds have all fallen.
Local wildcard Jakub Svec from Czechia defeated Swiss junior, Andreas Kotala in round 1, before a huge upset against 4th seed Bastian Böhm. The 2022 B Grade World Champion continued his form into the quarter finals, defeating Men’s Doubles Champion, Ross Wilson in a Gummiarm.
Semi Final 1: [GBR] Leon Griffiths [1] vs. [CZE] Jakub Svec [WC] – scheduled for 9:00 AM Czech time.
Following on from his success in the Mixed Doubles, Malte Thyregod from Denmark has won through to the semi finals. He defeated local Martin Sopko by 10 points in round 1, won by a walkover in round 2, then defeated another local, Michal Horácek in the quarter finals. The Dane has dropped just 7 points in badminton across his two victories.
7th seed Matěj Volf, also from Czechia, defeated Austrian Matthias Windbacher, before claiming a massive scalp in the quarter finals. Last time he played against World Number 5, Nicolas Lenggenhager, Matěj lost before tennis. This time the 2nd seed led by 13 points after the first three sports, before a stunning 21-5 win in tennis gave the Czech man a 3 point win.
Semi Final 2: [DEN] Malte Thyregod vs. [CZE] Matěj Volf [7] – scheduled for 9:20 AM Czech time.
Check out the draws: Women’s Singles | Men’s Singles
Watch the live stream on the Czech Racketlon YouTube Channel: Table Tennis | Badminton | Squash | Tennis
