Gummiarm Revenge!
2007-09-25
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Summary of events at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh:
- Finland's Lautala-Näykki won the ladies' title after Gummiarm drama, claiming revenge after a similarly tight match in London last.
- Eliasson back in good shape. His only lost set during the weekend came in the first round against Darren Kerins (8-21 in badminton). Then he went on to win all sets; even against table tennis specialists Sach and Dickert(!) And another Swede, Adamsson, is back too, beating second seed Calum Reid in the quarterfinal.
- Lundström impresses in the vets class! His record this weekend: +51, +38, +30, +31 Watch out, Bredberg! There will be competition for the World Champs title!

Fredrik Björk tells the full story below from a tournament that counts as one of the oldest on the tour. (The first Scottish Open was held in 2002 already and became the first world ranking event outwith Scandinavia.)

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I must admit I had no idea that rugby!? was such a big sport. (OK, I am an unenlightened Swede). I tried to book a hotel in Edinburgh 4 weeks in advance but had no chance. On top of that it was the last Scottish holiday before Christmas this weekend, so my friends and I ended up in Glasgow with a rental car. (Managed to drive 5 blocks backwards though on a one-way street to get to our hotel late Friday night). The Rugby World Cup took place in Edinburgh this weekend and Scotland took on the “All Blacks” from New Zeeland on Sunday, (Scotland lost 0-40) the event had a little more impact than the Racketlon event - for some people that is ;-)

Doubles
Friday started off with the doubles. 10 pairs played in 2 pools. In the first semi Marcel & Calum defeated Norbert & Krzysztof +16 and in the other Jon Foulds & Darren Kerins defeated Alistair Hogg & Steve Thomson +6.
In the final top ranked Marcel & Calum showed who’s in charge by taking down Jon & Darren by +13 (tt:21-5 ba:6-21 sq:21-12 te:12-9).

Men's Elite
The predicted lineup for the semis seemed early on to be the seeded players Magnus Eliasson, Michael Dickert, Marcel Weigl who also got through as expected. The big question was what Stefan Adamsson could do against number 2 seed Calum Read in the last quarterfinal. Calum got a 6-0 start in tt and won 21-13. In the badminton both players played well and pulled off some very good rallies, especially Calum showed fighting spirit and picked up many good drops but had to give in 20-22 in the end. The squash set was, as expected, at a very high level with some good rallies and ended 21-13 to Adamsson. In the Tennis Stefan was in “The Zone” and made very few mistakes ending many points with a hard forehand. Which decided the match to his advantage and an upset of the seeding was a fact;
Adamsson-Reid +13 (13-21, 22-20, 21-13, 21-13)

The semifinals went as predicted, Eliasson started off against Dickert by winning the tt and that was probably the end of the match. Eliasson won before tennis; +20 (21-19, 21-12, 21-12, -)
In the other semi Marcel got on to a good start and had the lead in the middle of the tt - but he could not stop Stefan from winning in the end. The match went on to the tennis though where the Swede needed only 2 points; +19 (21-17, 24-22, 21-7, 2-3).

So the final became a Swedish affair; Eliasson took the start by winning the tt by 21-16, after 11-8 halftime. In the badminton they had some very tough rallies, especially one, which Magnus won to 10-8. They then followed each other to yet another Eliasson victory 21-19. The squash was (as always between them) a very long story with many very long rallies. (editor's note: This type of squash is, in fact, occasionally known as "Scandinavian Squash" within the Racketlon community - and it was most probably a match between Eliasson and Adamsson that coined the expression) Eliasson marched up to 11-7 halftime and ended off by winning 21-16. This made him need only 10 points in the tennis and he got it at 10-5 by playing as stably as he usually does. Congrats to yet another well performed victory!

The longest set was seen in the match for third prize, where Marcel Weigl won the badminton by 29-27 over Michi Dickert. Both players laid on the ground after that battle. Michi won the total match before tennis (Marcel gave up).

Ray Jordan was heading for another “Gummiarm” in the first round against Bertil Wegmann. It was a close game in all sports and Bertil won it by +1 after Ray made a double fault on the last point. I have to take the opportunity to brag that I predicted this and told Bertil that he would win this match by 1 point just before the match! Sorry Ray! ;-)

Some great badminton was seen between the specialists Steve Thomson and Darren Kerins, Steve won the badders 21-16 and the match by + 11.

The thrilling End of the Ladies' Elite
In the ladies elite the semis went as predicted as Natalie was too strong for Sue Woods +21 (21-17, 21-17, 21-14, 7-1). In the other Susanna defeated Pernille Thomson by +23 (21-7, 21-8, 12-21, 11-6).

The much anticipated final started off by Susanna taking the tt by 21-11 after having 11-6 halftime. The badders also went to Susanna by 21-11. In the squash Natalie was dominating as expected but lost a few important points at the end to 21-7. This made a total of +2 to Susanna before tennis. In the tennis both players followed each other to 20 all. Before that Susanna had one match point. Natalie then won two straight points to 22-20 and took it to the “Gummiarm" Tiebreak.

Natalie won the toss and let Susanna serve. Susanna threw the ball high up in the air and made a stable serve, the ball went over the net a few times until Susanna made a stop volley and Natalie made a stop ball back, Susanna then hits a backhand that Natalie takes on the frame of the racket and the ball stays on her side, the ball was rather hard and many thought that it had gone out otherwise. Susanna wins a dramatic final!

In the match for third place Pernille Thompson defeated Sue Woods by +17

The Veterans
In the Veterans it was interesting to see recent comebacker Anders Lundström Finland marching thru the fields without having to use his tennis racket at all. The Finn defeated second seed Volker Sach in the semi and David Greatorex in the final by +31 (21-11, 21-13, 21-8). He won every match by a margin of at least 30+!!! Many eyes will focus on the first clash between Lundström and the racket athlete Ulf Bredberg.

Men's Class B
Owen Hadden took on Alistair Hogg in the final. These two dominated two sports each to make the figures 11-21, 7-21, 21-3, 21-7. +8 for Hadden whose squash was very solid. In the match for third price Fredrik Björk defeated Tamas Marko +22.

Men's Class C
…was won by Colin Fleming, who won a tight match against Philipp Haflinger in the final +4.
John McBride won the bronze match against Andy Petersons by +10.

Many thanks to the excellent organization team, Neil, Katy, Sarah, Pernille and Frania who made this tournament run smoothly. Everything was on schedule and the service level was very high and always with a smile. I’ll certainly be back next year!

See you next time
/Fredrik Björk -Stockholm

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Results in Summary. (For complete results see tournament hompeage.)

MEN'S ELITE
Quarterfinals:
Magnus Eliasson (SWE, WR1) - Volker Sach (GER, WR26) +40
(tt:21-19 ba:21-2 sq:21-2 te:-)
Michi Dickert (AUT, WR6) - Bertil Wegman (SWE, WR56) +33
(21-15, 21-8, 21-7, -)
Marcel Weigl (AUT, WR5) - Krzysztof Samonek (POL, WR21) +10
(3-21, 21-11, 21-15, 21-9)
Stefan Adamsson (SWE, WR15) - Calum Reid (SCO, WR2) +12
(13-21, 22-20, 21-13, 21-13)
Semifinals:
Eliasson-Dickert +20 (21-19, 21-12, 21-12, -)
Adamsson-Weigl +19 (21-17, 24-22, 21-7, -)
Final:
Eliasson-Adamsson +17 (21-16, 21-19, 21-16, 10-5)

LADIES' ELITE
Semifinals:
Susanna Lautala-Näykki (FIN, WR1) - Pernille Thomson (SCO, WR22) +23
(21-7, 21-8, 12-21, 11-6)
Natalie Lawrence (ENG, WR5) - Sue Woods (WAL, WR11) +21
(21-17, 21-17, 21-14, 7-1)
Finals:
Lautala-Näykki-Lawrence +1 (21-15, 21-11, 7-21, 20-22, 1-0)

MEN'S VETERAN O45
Quarterfinals:
David Greatorex (WAL, WR3) - Stewart Milne (SCO, WR141) +25
(21-8, 23-21, 21-9, 11-13)
Bill Fleming (SCO, WR20) - Ewen Macdonell (WR-) +21
(21-9, 21-17, 17-21, 11-2)
Claes Hellgren (SWE, WR9) - Graham Norton (ENG, WR14) +16
(17-21, 19-21, 21-17, 21-11)
Anders Lundström (FIN, WR11) - Volker Sach (GER, WR5) +38
(21-11, 21-5, 17-5, -)
Semifinals:
Greatorex-Fleming +22 (19-21, 21-12, 21-6, -)
Lundström-Hellgren +30 (21-5, 21-15, 21-13, -)
Final:
Lundström-Greatorex +31 (21-11, 21-13, 21-8, -

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