Sweden won the second Finnkamp with the total score 5 wins against Finland’s 3 wins. The crowd really enjoyed the matches and the atmosphere in the stands here in Åland was just great.

The crowd on the center court created just the kind of atmosphere one could expect during prestigous matches between the neighbouring countries Sweden and Finland, and it inspired the players on court.

- It’s not that hard to battle for every ball with a crowd like this, Steve Gunnarsson said after the match.

Together with Hannes Brinkborg he took and impressive win over the finnish men Piippo/Nurminen, 2-0 ( 21-15, 21-13).

- We had no idea how our finnish opponents would play, so we just went in with the attitude to perform as good as possible. Hannes dug many balls and did it really good. My body fells great now, Steve Gunnarsson continued.

In the women’s game Sweden was represented by this years queen of Swedish Beach Tour, Karin Lundqvist, in pair with Tora Hansson. For Finland on the other side of the net, the Nyström sisters, who been both up and down this season and finished 25th here in Paf Open.

Despite it was Lundqvist/Hansson first game together they played really tight and well matched. Tora Hansson impressed with her blocking and she took several blocking points, most of them in the second set.

- It’s so nice to get those blocks, it got better and better throughout the whole game. It feels great to win here in Åland with the support from the crowd. I’m really proud to get to play with Karin Lundqvist, she is very easy to play with, Tora Hansson said.

- We decided to enjoy each ball. We couldn’t finish the swedish summer in better way, Karin Lundqvist said.

Lundqvist /Hansson – Nyström/Nyström 2-0 (21-13, 21-13)

The youth games in Finnkampen were all tight games. Five out of six went to three sets and the last game for the day, U23 went all the way to 19-17 in the final set. The Norman brothers came back from being down 8-12 to win the game and the Finnkamp of 2011.

The finnish girls turned out to be stronger than the swedish and the other way around for the boys. The U18 boys game was another three set thriller which ended with a swedish win.

-It’s great, it’s always fun to beat Finland. We played well in the end and it was an even and tough game. We met them once before and we won that game too, with a small margin, Wilhelm Nilsson said after the game.

Results Finnkampen youth:
U18 Katju Puskala/Hanna Salomäki FIN-Emma Larsson/Thea Thulin SWE 2-0 (21-14, 21-12)
U18 Tuomas Stranius/Ville-Erik Tarkiainen FIN-Wilhelm Nilsson/Johan Skoogh SWE 1-2 (21-15, 14-21, 13-15)
U20 Taru Lahti/Hanna Salomäki FIN-Kristina Thurin/Susanna Thurin SWE 2-1 (21-16, 11-21, 15-9)
U20 Niklas Seppänen/Tommi Siirilä FIN-Christofer Lewin/Rasmus Dahlberg SWE 1-2 (21-17, 18-21, 11-15)
U23 Eveliina Koljonen/Taija Pekkarinen FIN-Tadva Yoken/Sara Hellgren SWE 2-1 (21-14, 19-21, 15-9)
U23 Saku Viljamaa/Kirill Borichev FIN-Mårten Norman/Manne Norman SWE 1-2 (21-18, 16-21, 17-19)

The final day of Paf Open starts off with Finland vs. Sweden matches before the men’s finals. The youngest teams, U18 will start the matches, then U20  and under 23 years old will end the prestigous matches.

The youth players will play on the courts 1 and 2. Senior matches are played on the center court, men at 11.30 and women 12.30. Last year the matches were played only with men and women and the both wins were taken by Sweden.

The teams and starting times:

U18 10:00

Katju Puskala/Hanna Salomäki – Emma Larsson/Thea Thulin

Tuomas Stranius/Ville-Erik Tarkiainen – Wilhelm Nilsson/Johan Skoogh

U20 11:00

Taru Lahti/Hanna Salomäki – Kristina Thurin/Susanna Thurin

Niklas Seppänen/Tommi Siirilä –  Christofer Lewin / Rasmus Dahlberg

U23 13:30

Eveliina Koljonen/Taija Pekkarinen – Tadva Yoken/Sara Hellgren

Saku Viljamaa/Kirill Borichev –  Mårten Norman/Manne Norman

Women 1230: Emilia Nyström/Erika Nyström – Karin Lundqvist/Tora Hansson

Men 11:30: Jyrki Nurminen/Pekka Piippo – Hannes Brinkborg/Stefan Gunnarsson

The national head coach of Finland Kai Liukkonen foresees tight matches, but believes in a finnish win.

- I think Finland will win the youth matches, but men and women are harder. Nyströms wants to have at least one win this year and here is the place to take it, says Liukkonen.

- I have no experience how good the youngsters are, but I guess that the adult matches will be even, says Simon Dahl the Sports director of Paf Open.

The men’s final will be played on Sunday. American Olympic winners, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser will play against Brazilian Marcio Araujo with his partner Benjamin Insfran. Three of the players in the final are the same as last year, but for Benjamin it’s the first Paf Open final.

Rogers and Dalhausser played in their semifinal against the young Polish team Fijalek/Prudel very tightly. In the three setter Americans had to do their best to win the match. In the first set Fijalek and Prudel had good lead, but Rogers and Dalhausser took the set win 21-19. In the second set Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel controlled the ball better and won 21-18. Third setter was a thrill, Todd and Phil led 12-8, but then the Polish serve was too difficult, suddenly it was 12-12. At this point Todd Rogers decided to take the win and took a couple of perfect digs and the set won 15-12.

In the Brazilian semifinal Emanuel Rego/Alison Cerrutti [2] and Benjamin Insfran/Marcio Araujo [5] played for the other final place. Benjamin and Marcio were strong from the beginning and they really wanted to win the World Champions. With Marcio’s awesome defences and digs they stopped Emanuel’s and Alison’s attacks. The only 2-0-win (21-18, 21-15) in the last four matches of the day, was taken by Marcio/Benjamin.

Emanuel-Alison BRA [2] Marcio Araujo-Benjamin BRA [5] 0-2 (18-21, 15-21)

Rogers-Dalhausser USA [1] Fijalek-Prudel POL [3] 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-12)

Final Sunday 21.8 15.30

Bronze medal Sunday 21.8. 14.00

In the women’s Paf Open final China faced USA. Last years Paf Open winners, Chen Xue and Xi Zhang from China, repeated their victory from last year beating the americans, Paf Open rookies and Olympic winners, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh

The Chinese team ruled the match in the beginning and they won the first set clearly 21-16. But in the second set the roles were different, like the weather, the wind and the rain stopped. May/Walsh led the second set at the technical timeout 12-9 and kept the lead until the end of the set, winning it 21-17.

Xi Zhang/Xue get the flying start for the third set. They had the lead 4-1 in the beginning and then 7-3, which was too much for Americans. By Xi Zhang successful digs and killing serves, the Chinese team won the third set and the whole tournament 15-9.

- Åland is very lucky place for us, told Xi and Chen. This was our first tournament win for this season.

- The young chinese girls have very good serve and Xi went for every ball. We lost our chances in the first set already in the beginning, but we could turn the second set for us, remembered Misty May-Treanor. Even if it was raining and windy in the beginning, the weather has been great in here, she continues.

- Everything has been so great in here: food, accommodation, weather and especially the sand, defines Kerri Walsh.

The bronze medal match was very tight game between two Brazilian teams, Juliana Da Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, first seeded in the tournament, and Talita Antunes with Maria Antonelli [3]. Juliana and Larissa won the first set with two points 21-19. The second set was also very tight, even if Talita/Maria had 17-13 lead. Finally they won the set 21-18 and took the match to the third set. The final set was even until the end. Talita and Maria had several match balls, but Larissa Franca cut the set with ace, dig and placing the ball into the empty place 21-19.

Final   Xue-Zhang Xi CHN [2] May-Treanor-Walsh USA [4] 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-9)

Bronze medal Larissa-Juliana BRA [1] Talita-Antonelli BRA [3] 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 21-19)

Follow the center court action live on Paf.com

On Saturday evening  the the men’s semifinals will be played. Two Brazilian teams, Emanuel-Alison [2] and Marcio Araujo-Benjamin [5], number one seeded Americans, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser [1], and the Polish team Fijalek-Prudel [3] are playing for the final.

There is a lot of experience on the courts, when half of the players are born on 1970’s.

Emanuel Rego b.1973, Marcio Araujo b.1973, Benjamin Insfran b.1972 and Todd Rogers b.1973. On the other side of the net are the young challengers Mariusz Prudel b.1986 and Grzegorz Fijalek b.1987. Alison Cerutti, who plays with Emanuel, is born 1985 and tall American Phil Dalhausser 1980.

Like in the women’s tournament, also in the men’s semifinals are playing the top seeded teams. All the teams have played very succesfully the whole summer. Emanuel/Alison (BRA) won the World Champion in Rome in June by beating their country man Marcio Araujo, who played with Richardo. Richardo played in the Paf Open with Pedro Cunha. They were seeded fourth, but they ended up in 17th place. The americans olympic winners played themselves to the 9th place in the World Championship, even if they were seedes first. The Polish team was 5th.

Emanuel/Alison (BRA) and Rogers/Dalhausser (USA) have won all their matches in the tournament. The opponents in the semifinals have lost one game and played more than on the winners bracket. Marcio Araujo and Benjamin lost against americans on the fourth round and Fijalek/Prudel already in the second round to dutch Nummerdor/Schuil [14] from the Netherlands.

In the semifinals the brazilians play against each other in the second match at 18.30. One hour before Poland will face USA in the center court.

18:30 Emanuel-Alison BRA [2] Marcio Araujo-Benjamin BRA [5]

17:30 Rogers-Dalhausser USA [1] Fijalek-Prudel POL [3]

Swedish national team followed up the victory this morning with another win, but in the next game italians Lupo-Paolo were too strong and the swedes finished 9th in Paf Open 2011.

In the second game today Brinkborg/Gunnarsson took a promising 2-0 win against latvians Samoilovs-Sorokins (21-18, 21-11). In the next round Lupo-Paolo stood on the other side of the net and they had more energy left than the swedes, who had a tough schedule in the losers bracket. Italians took the first set, 21-16. The second set was a long-runner that Brinkborg-Gunnarsson managed to win on over time – 28-26.

The third set started as earlier last set for the swedes – with a score disadventage from the beginning. But this time Gunnarsson-Brinkborg didn’t have the strength to come back in the game. Stefan Gunnarsson had problems and was forced to a medical time out in the middle of the third set and couldn’t perform at his best. They fought well til the end but the italians kept there good game and won the set and the game.

Brinkborg-Gunnarsson – Lupo/Paolo 1-2 (16-21, 28-26, 9-15)

Friday started with yet another thrilling 3 set game. The swedes were down and came back to take their second win in the Paf Open Main Draw.

Same story every swedish game so far. First up, then down and then up again. After the tight first set, which ended with a swedish win, the american dominated the second set and took a 21-13 win. The third started like the second ended, and the americans went up to a 10-6 lead. But the swedes wouldn’t give up and the crowd at Court 1 did it’s best to help their home team. And it worked. Brinkborg/Gunnarsson caught points from the americans and from being down 11-12 they turned the game around. American mistake, 12-12 followd up with a stuff block by Hannes Brinkborg and Sweden was in the lead for the first time in the third set. Then Keenan was called for a bad set, matchpoint Sweden. Keenan/Jennings saved the first match point but followed up with a serve error and the game was over.

- It was an incredible comeback, but we had a comeback yesterday so we knew it was possible, Hannes Brinkborg said after the game.