Yesterday saw a substantial increase of spectators as the seeded players entered the competition and started playing their first matches at the Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris.
There was, as expected, an increase in the overall match quality (on top of the already high level tennis) thanks to the influx of the seeded players. This was joyful for the spectators, who were rewarded with many well played and dramatic matches throughout the day.
In the Drottningens Pris only one lone Swede, Klara Milicevic, made it through to the next round after beating Sara Suchankova, ranked 10th in Europe from Slovakia. Sadly Louise Wikander was beat by the well performing Romanian Amarissa Kiara Toth.
– Many of the Swedish girls got to play against tough international competition, which we hope will inspire and motivate them to practice even harder in the future, KLTK’s Head of Sports Rickard Billing comments.
It is among the international players clear that the sweeping Russian domination has come to an end, even though some of the favourites to win are Russian. No less than 13 nations are still represented at today’s last16 matches.
Yesterday proved to be another record breaking successful day for the Swedes in the Kungens Kanna, with four Swedish boys making it through to compete in the last 16. Despite their losses it is noteworthy to mention that the two Swedes that did not make it through to the next round, Arslan Temirhanov (SALK/Good to Great) and Måns Dahlberg (Påvelunds TBK/Good to Great), both put in extremely impressive performances against the top seeded duo Elmer Møller (Denmark) and Derrick Chen (England), who they faced in nail biting three-hour-long-matches – continuously holding the attention of the crowd. The Swedish boys who won their games are Michael Minasyan (Danderyd/Good to Great, picture above), Adrian Luddeckens (Fair Play TK), qualifier Viggo Gröndal (Båstad TS), and home player Leo Borg.
This year has seen a lot of Swedish players fare well against the international competition and, despite a disappointing showing at the Winter Cups, there are signs of a brighter future for the next generation of elite players.
In Kungens Kanna there are still nine nations represented in the remaining field, and Sweden has the most of any nation among these. Let us hope that this strong showing continues into the quarter finals.
This Wednesday begins with the last 16 round of Drottningens Pris at 10:30 AM, followed up by Kungens Kanna.
