ILT Southern Open PSA and South Island Champs Crowned

Raphael Kandra and Misaki Kobayashi have claimed the top honours at the ILT NZ Southern Open PSA which also doubled as the South Island Championships.

Megan Craig of New Zealand and Misaki Kobayashi of Japan were first up on court and Craig was the first to gain advantage, taking the very tightly contested first set. Craig displayed great speed around the court, hunting for the volley and forcing errors from Kobayashi. The second set was another close battle, however Kobayashi became more settled into her game and was able to redirect the pressure onto Craig. Kobayashi was very happy to take the second set and even the match up as she felt that Craig had absorbed the pressure well, and continued to fight back, looking for any opportunity to extend her advantage. Kobayashi continued to look more comfortable and in control during the third set although it was not until the fourth that she truly began to dominate with well placed shots that stretched Craig’s ability to retrieve.

In the Men’s final, both players were going to have to work hard to score points against an opponent who has proven themselves able to retrieve balls from seemingly winning shots. The speed and agility of both Tsz Fung Yip of Hong Kong and Raphael Kandra of Germany had the crowd constantly amazed and impressed as they both scrambled from one corner of the court to another to keep themselves in the rally. Yip was completely in control of the first two sets as Kandra made several errors and it seemed as though Yip had the match already with Kandra seeming to have no clear game plan to fight back with. Kandra clearly regrouped well during the break and from early in the third set it became clear that the match had shifted momentum. Kandra took an early lead and kept extending it, taking the third set to keep his chances alive. Following the match Kandra said he had realized that if he really wanted to win he needed to “come up with a better game plan and be patient, not play the silly shots.” The fourth set saw a very focused Kandra attacking the ball with new found energy and aggression, hitting more balls deep to the back and playing shots with much more accuracy, that saw him take the set convincingly, forcing Yip into a fifth set. Yip came back strong in the final set, forcing errors again, until Kandra started to come back and reclaimed a slim lead. At 7-6 a turning point was reached with Kandra winning the longest rally of the match (2.07 minutes) and continuing his momentum to claim the match and 2015 title.

This event also doubled as the South Island Championships with both players claiming the title for 2015. 

Streamed games and interviews with players can be found here and here

Full Results:

(2) Misaki Kobayashi (JAP) bt (4) Megan Craig (NZ) 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (38 minutes)

(2) Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) 4-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 (52 minutes)