PSA de Normandie: Roberts and Aijanen Victorious

Wales’ Lowri Roberts and Finland’s Miko Aijanen were the PSA de Normandie victors at the Art Sport Cafe in Le Havre on Sunday afternoon.

The Welshwoman came into the Challenger 3 level competition as the No.4 seed, and defeated the tournament’s top seed in the semi-finals. She had started with comfortable wins over the French duo of Ines Guyot and Ana Munos, before facing Denmark’s Caroline Lyng in the last four.

The Dane, the top seed for the event, won the opening game of their semi-final 11-8. However, Roberts fought back, winning the second game comfortably. She then carried that momentum throughout the third and fourth games to book her place in the final.

She came up against surprise package Maria Tovar in the final on Sunday. Tovar had defeated two of the top three seeds en route, and she saved a match ball in the third game of the final to stay in the contest, going on to win it 12-10. However, Roberts regrouped, and won the fourth game 11-3 to secure her maiden Tour title at the age of 25.

Finland’s Miko Aijanen also came into the competition as the No.4 seed, and started his week with back-to-back straight games victories. He beat Switzerland’s David Bernet and Frenchman Maceo Levy to make it through to he semi-finals of the tournament.

In the last four, the Finnish No.1 came up against Toufik Mekhalfi, the No.2 seed. He won the opening game on a tie-break but then found himself 2-1 down. A quick fourth game sent the match to a decider, where he went on to defeat the Frenchman 11-8 to move through to the final.

Aijanen took on the tournament’s top seed Rowan Damming in the final. He was too games to the good, but the Dutchman showed why he was the World Junior Champion, battling back to send the match into a deciding game. The Finn would not be denied, though, and he won the fifth 11-7 to claim his first Tour title since 2019.

Results: PSA de Normandie
Men’s Final
[4] Miko Aijanen (FIN) bt [1] Rowan Damming 3-2: 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7 (67m)

Women’s Final
[4] Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt Maria Tovar (COL) 3-1: 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-3 (29m)

Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Rowan Damming (NED) bt [3] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-2 (34m)
[4] Miko Aijanen (FIN) bt [2] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) 3-2: 13-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8 (77m)

Women’s Semi-Finals
[4] Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt [1] Caroline Lyng (DEN) 3-1: 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 (27m)
Maria Tovar (COL) bt [2] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) 3-2: 11-8, 11-6, 3-11, 11-13, 12-10 (61m)

Men’s Quarter Finals
[1] Rowan Damming (NED) bt [7] Laouenan Loaec (FRA) 3-1: 11-6, 11-4, 1-11, 11-7 
[3] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) bt Brett Schille (CAN) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 (40m)
[4] Miko Aijanen (FIN) bt Maceo Levy (FRA) 3-0: 13-11, 13-11, 11-9 (47m)
[2] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt Will Salter (ENG) 3-1: 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5 (53m)

Women’s Quarter Finals
[1] Caroline Lyng (DEN) bt [8] Lilou Brevard-Belliot (FRA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (17m)
[4] Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt [6] Ana Munos (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 (20m)
Maria Tovar (COL) bt [3] Ella Galova (FRA) 3-2: 5-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 (52m)
[2] Lauren Baltayan (FRA) bt [5] Polly Clark (ENG) 3-1: 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 11-7 (35m)

Men’s First Round
[1] Rowan Damming (NED) bt Miguel Mathis (SUI) 3-0: 11-2, 11-6, 13-11 (35m)
[7] Laouenan Loaec (FRA) bt [WC] Axel Diet (FRA) 3-2: 2-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9 (45m)
Brett Schille (CAN) bt [8] Manu Paquemar (FRA) 3-1: 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-2 (52m)
[3] Ondrej Vorlicek (CZE) bt Sven Stettler (SUI) 3-2: 11-6, 4-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9 (59m)
[4] Miko Aijanen (FIN) bt David Bernet (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 (30m)
[5] Maceo Levy (FRA) bt Aaron Allpress (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 12-10 (36m)
Will Salter (ENG) bt [6] Lewis Doughty (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-3 (33m)
[2] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt Baptiste Bouin (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 (35m)

Women’s First Round
[8] Lilou Brevard-Belliot (FRA) bt Rose Lucas Marcuzzo (FRA) 3-2: 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6 (35m)
[6] Ana Munos (FRA) bt Catherine Holland (SCO) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 (25m)
[4] Lowri Roberts (WAL) bt Ines Guyot (FRA) 3-1: 11-5, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7
Maria Tovar (COL) bt [7] Amelie Haworth (ENG) 3-1: 11-4, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3
[5] Polly Clark (ENG) bt Sofie Hausknotzova (CZE) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-2