Lithuania got revenge over Latvia in the men’s final with Patriks Stankevicius and Audrjus Knasas downing Mihails Samoilovs and Aleksandrs Solovejs 21-16, 22-20 to take the title. Martins Plavins, who couldn’t play with Edgars Tocs, who got married over the weekend, finished third with Matiss Gabdullins. Aleksandrs Samoilovs paired with Arturs Rinkevics and ended up in fifth place.
The Latvian season will come to an end next week with the National Championship in Cesis.
Favorites upset in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, though, the favorites had to settle for silver as the 2018 European champions Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink were defeated by Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam in straight sets (22-20, 21-19) in Almelo. Emma Piersma and Puk Stubbe finished third.
The winners among the men were Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who posted a 21-8, 21-16 victory over Dirk Boehlé and Mart van Werkhoven in the final. Matthew Immers and Leon Luini completed the podium.
Dutch teams will return to the sand next week, in Zaanstad, the final event before the National Championship.
Lehtonen/Ahtiainen wins the Finnish Derby
The Finnish Tour event in Helsinki saw the country’s top teams meet in the women’s and Riikka Lehtonen and Niina came out on top with a 21-16, 21-16 victory over Taru Lathi and Anniina Parkkinen to take gold.
“It was hard for me to get into a rhythm this week,” Lehtonen explained. “I took a long rest after the last tournament and returned slowly with standing drills. Once my body got better and we got more confidence we got to play better and the last day was the best for us and the final was very good.”
In the men’s event, the title to the Lithuanian duo of Robert Juchnevic and Artur Vasiljev, who upset the home favorites Jyrki Nurminen and Santeri Sirén 21-16, 21-18 to finish on top.
The Finnish Tour Finals are set for next week in Tampere.
