by Ian Marshall, Editor

At the final hurdle Nikita Artemenko and Petr Fedotov accounted for the combination of Venezuela’s Cecilio Correa and India’s Raj Mondal by two matches to nil; Petr Fedotov beat Raj Mondal (11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11), before Nikita Artemenko overcame Cecilio Correa (11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9) to seal the victory.

Earlier at the semi-final stage, both outfits had recorded two matches to one wins. Nikita Artemenko and Petr Fedotov had beaten Japan’s Masato Kakitsuka and Takumi Ichinose; Cecilio Correa and Raj Mondal had overcome Russia’s Ilia Isakov and Alexander Tuytruymov.

Success by two matches to nil for Nikita Artemenko and Petr Fedotov to secure the title; in the final of the Women’s Team event, facing colleagues Natsumi Nakahata and Miko Tokunaga, the result was the same. Saki Seyama beat Natsumi Nakahata (11-9, 11-3, 5-11, 11-5); Ayane Morita recovered from a two games to nil deficit to emerge successful against Miko Tokunaga (6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10) to seal the victory.

Impressive in the final, at the semi-final stage it had been the same. Ayane Morita and Saki Seyama had recorded a two-nil win in opposition to Russia’s Svetlana Krekina and Olga Vishnykova; by the same margin Natsumi Nakahata and Miko Tokunaga had ended the aspirations of Nolwenn Fort and Laura Pfeffer of France.

The Men’s Team and Women’s Team events concluded, the early rounds of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events, organized on a progressive knock-out formula in order to give players a high volume of matches, have commenced. Understandably, local attention is focused on Benedek Olah, winner of the Men’s Singles title at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Nigeria Open in Lagos and with eyes focused on a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

A determined Benedek Olah (Photo: courtesy of 2018 Finlandia Open)

Furthermore, he did not disappoint; the top seed, he accounted for Sweden’s Anton Andersson (11-3, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9), before emerging successful in opposition to Ukraine’s Andriy Grebeniuk (11-9, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10).

“The last match was not easy, because it seems like everyone wants to beat me. Against the first seeded, you can play freely; it seems every player is doing that!” Benedek Olah

Notably 100 entries have been received for the Men’s Singles event, 70 for the Women’s Singles competition.

2019 Finlandia Open: Men’s Team Results (Friday 7th December)

2019 Finlandia Open: Women’s Team Results (Friday 7th December)

2019 Finlandia Open: Men’s Singles Results (Friday 7th December)

2019 Finlandia Open: Women’s Singles Results (Friday 7th December)