English Open Preview: A Closer Look at
the Draw
2007-07-30
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The English Open draws are now available for download on the tournament homepage (see link to an excel document at the bottom of the page). The Men's Elite class will be decided through a tasty 32 draw. Here is a closer look at it:
MEN'S ELITE
Predicted quarterfinals according to the world ranking:
1) John O'Donnell (ENG, WR3) - Alex Köpf (GER, WR10)
2) Douglas Struthers (ENG, WR12) - Michi Dickert (AUT, WR6)
3) Christoph Krenn (AUT, WR8) - Johan Porsborn (SWE, WR11)
4) Rickard Persson (SWE, WR9) - Marcel Weigl (AUT, WR4)
However:
(1)
First seed O'Donnell faces Germany's Marco Deeg in the first
round. That should not be the best of "profiles" for
squash specialist O'Donnell, considering the fact that Deeg is
one of Germany's best squash players. In his very first Racketlon
tournament (the 2006 German Open in Weiterstadt, last summer)
Deeg came very close of beating the first seed of that
tournament, Calum Reid, winning(!) the tennis; Reid needed 11 in
the tennis to win and got them - but only just at 11-19!! In this
year's German Open, held in Rüsselsheim last month, he impressed
again, this time by winning the Men's Class B.
(2)
Michi Dickert will be facing Christian Wall in the first round.
Both have been showing great form lately; Dickert by e.g. beating
Rickard Persson in both Hungary and Switzerland and pushing no
one less than Eliasson in the recent German Open, where he won
both of the first disciplines;
Eliasson - Dickert +8 (tt:11-21 ba:19-21 sq:21-13 te:21-9).
And Wall, too, has impressed; first and foremost through his
breakthrough at the Gothenburg Open last year (see report), where he shocked the
Racketlon world by winning the whole tournament but also at the
German Open last month where he upset the seedings to take a
place in the final (see report).
Dickert's draw does, indeed, look generally difficult, not only
because of Wall in the first round, but also (potentially, if he
can get past Zwiers) because of Niclas Larsson in the second
(Larsson lost by one single point to (an out-of-practice) Stefan
Adamsson in the Swedish Championships a couple of months ago) and
Douglas Struthers in the third. Struthers is widely considered to
be the big favourite to win the whole tournament.
(3)
Krenn faces Anders Rickan in the first round. Rickan is a stable
elite player that has been around for many years. He should have
a good chance of winning the first three disciplines against
Krenn, which, in turn, should give him a good chance to upset the
seedings. Profilewise, Krenn is not ideal for Rickan, though,
since his best sport (tennis) is taken away by Krenn's superior
capabilities in that discipline.
/H
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