Antalya Open action enters pivotal pool stage

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Can Dutch duo Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen keep up their good form and win gold in Turkey this weekend? Photo credit: Predrag Vuckovic.

So far it’s been a Turkish delight for the top seeds in the Antalya Open with upsets few and far between on the shores of the Mediterranean.

You know here at Swatch Majors Series we have a soft spot for the underdog but it would be wrong of us not to get excited about the top players when they turn on their turbo chargers and batter the opposition!

Take three of the top four seeds in the women’s tournament for example…Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst (GER), Karla Borger and Britta Büthe (GER) and Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Vergé-Dépré (SUI) have all breezed to win all three of their pool matches and are already looking forward to a place in the second round. Talk about meaning business, girls!

The men’s half of the tournament seemingly began in the same vein…especially after Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst (NED) silenced the home crowd in emphatic style when thrashing Turkey’s Kemal Sah and Devrim Alibaba 2-0 in just 27 minutes!

And the Dutch were well and truly flying when second seeds Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen (our heroes in Poreč last year) put Croatian pair Ivan Zeljkovic and Filip Silic to the sword in ruthless fashion.

But…but! Then, finally, suddenly, dramatically, we had something to sit up and take notice of! Third seeds John Hyden and Tri Bourne – bronze medalists in Sochi last week – were toppled by their own countrymen, with Derek Olson and Jeremy Casebeer doing the damage in just two sets to really spice things up in Pool C. Take that favorites, let’s hear it for the underdog!

What does the rest of the tournament hold? Well the men complete their pool matches on Friday before the serious and exciting business of the knockout stages continues for both the men and women over the weekend.

Will the top women continue to dominate? Will there be any hint of a shock? And will we release the details of our top secret location for the World Tour Finals in September.

There’s only one way to find out (apart from the last question of course…we won’t be doing that just yet) – and that’s by religiously logging onto our magnificent website. And, while you’re at it you could also sign-up to our newsletter… Do it, do it now!