Frenchwoman Anaïs Ben Mansour has won her first elite racketlon title, just 6 months after making her international debut. Meanwhile in the Men’s final, Malte Thyregod led Leon Griffiths after badminton, before the World Number 1 turned the heat up in the squash, and never looked back.
Men’s Singles
Malte Thyregod from Denmark had a great tournament, making the final in singles, doubles and mixed. After a 10 point victory against local Martin Sopko, the draw opened up for the Dane, when World Number 6 Koen Hageraats withdrew. A surprisingly one-sided semi-final against Matěj Volf gave the badminton star a place in the final.
Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, World Number 1, Leon Griffiths cruised through to the final. Only 6th seeded Molnár Gergely forced the Brit to take his tennis racquet out of his bag.
In the final, Malte won the table tennis, before the hotly anticipated badminton set. Both players are strongest in badminton and have traded wins in the past. This time Leon won 21-19, but Malte still held a 2-point lead.
Despite trailing before the squash, the World Number 1 need not have been bothered, his squash is still at an exceptional level. A 21-5 win swung the match in his favour and he never looked back, as he took the tennis 8-4, for an 18 point win overall.
In an all-Czech bronze medal playoff, Matěj Volf defeated wildcard Jakub Svec.
Women’s Singles
Despite only making her World Tour debut at the French Open in April this year, Anaïs Ben Mansour has announced herself as a threat in the elite categories. She defeated Dara Ladner before tennis in round 1, before upsetting number 2 seed, Holly Ranson, in the semi final.
Mollie Patterson, who won through to the World Championships semi final earlier this year, has continued her great run of form. A first round win against Adeline Kilchenmann, followed by knocking out top seed Kirsten Kaptein, gave her a final berth.
As predicted, Mollie won the table tennis against Anaïs comfortably. Then the Frenchwoman returned the favour in the badminton.
A tight squash set followed, with Anaïs edging it 21-19, meaning whoever won tennis would win the title.
And the tennis? 21-8. Congratulations Anaïs Ben Mansour.
Holly Ranson defeated Kirsten Kaptein to win the bronze.
View the results: Women’s Singles | Men’s Singles
Doubles
We’ve already published a report on the doubles, but it’s time to add some pictures. Congratulations to all our winners!
Apologies that we don’t have any decent photos of the Men’s podium…
…the first one, Ross was cracking a joke. The second one, Leon & Malte were too busy laughing.
From left: Malte Thyregod & Bastian Böhm (silver), Leon Griffiths & Ross Wilson (gold), Andreas Kotala & Cornelius Ried (bronze)
Photos credit: Czech Racketlon
Coming soon: Everything you need to know about the World Tour Finals.
