In the Austrian city, two home duos made it to the podium, with Latvians going out on top. In the women’s event, Belgians Cools/van den Vonder collected their second Futures gold.
Austrian youngsters Hammarberg/Berger made it to the Baden Futures tournament final undefeated. Their winning streak ended with a semifinal upset of compatriots Leitner/Waller 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) before they claimed their second medal on the Beach Pro Tour, after winning gold at the Mallorca Futures last October. In the final match, they were in a tight spot, but had to admit defeat to Latvian duo Fokerots/Auziņš after two sets (19-21, 19-21).The 19-year old Latvians made their debut as a duo in Baden and claimed the title.
Waller teamed up with Leitner in an attempt to defend his title, but the duo had to settle for third place after being shut out by their compatriots. In the match for the bronze medal, they defeated Australians Bushby/Hood in straight sets (21-15, 21-14). Other home duos in the top ten of the Baden Futures tournament include Grössig/Seiser in fifth place and Schnetzer/Petutschnig in ninth.
In the women’s tournament, two more Austrian duos made it to fifth place. Youngsters Berger/Hohenauer, on their first Beach Pro Tour appearance this season, were defeated by Czechs Dvorníková/Pospisilova in straight sets (21-16, 21-16). Plesiutschnig/Schützenhöfer put up a fight against Estonians Hollas/Remmelg but were eventually beaten in a tie-breaker (18-21, 21-15, 15-11).
Hollas/Remmelg made it to the women’s final at the Baden Futures tournament, where they faced off against Belgian Cools/van den Vonder for the second time after the pool play. Once again, they went into a tie-breaker and the Estonians were beaten by the Belgians (19-21, 21-15, 17-15). As a result, Cools/van den Vonder picked up their second gold medal at a Futures event after triumphing in Mallorca last year.
The women’s bronze went to Ukrainians Hladun/Lazarenko, who beat Dvorníková/Pospisilova in straight sets (21-15, 21-18). This is their second Futures bronze this season after landing in the same position in Ios just earlier in June.
