Äijänen Brothers Cause Upsets in Finland

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The opening round of the Savcor Finnish Open, PSA M5 tournament saw two major upsets stun an enraptured crowd as the Äijänen brothers, Miko and Jami, claimed scalps over second seed Aqeel Rehman and Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, respectively.

Miko came through qualifying without dropping a game to secure his main draw berth and the 18-year-old rode the wave of fervent support from his home crowd to come through a brutal five-game-thriller with an 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10 victory.

His reward is a quarter-final clash with England’s Ashley Davies after he saw ousted Kristian Rautiainen 3-2.

Wildcard Jami eliminated seventh seed Masotti in a scintillating three-game salvo in one of the finest displays of his burgeoning career. The Fin will face another Frenchman, Geoffrey Demont, for a place in the semi-final after he laboured to victory against Robert Dadds.

Top seed Shehab Essam will face Asim Khan in the next round, meanwhile, after they rose to respective victories over Tristan Eysele and Bradley Masters.

Israeli number four seed Daniel Poleshchuk is also through to the quarter-final thanks to his win over Pascal Gomez and he will contest his last eight fixture with Manuel Wanner who defeated Kale Wilson.

Results – First Round: Savcor Finnish Open 2016
[1] Shehab Essam (EGY) bt Tristan Eysele (RSA) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-5
[6] Asim Khan (PAK) bt [Q] Bradley Masters (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-7
[8] Manuel Wanner (SUI) bt Kale Wilson (TRI) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-8
[4] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR) bt [LL] Pascal Gomez (ESP) 3-0: 11-5, 11-0, 11-7
[3] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) bt [Q] Robert Dadds (ENG) 3-2: 11-7, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3
[WC] Jami Äijänen (FIN) bt [7] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-2
[5] Ashley Davies (ENG) bt [Q] Kristian Rautiainen (FIN) 3-2: 12-14, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 17-15
[Q] Miko Äijänen (FIN) bt [2] Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 3-2: 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10

Draw – Quarter-Final
[1] Shehab Essam (EGY) v [6] Asim Khan (PAK)
[8] Manuel Wanner (SUI) v [4] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)
[3] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) v [WC] Jami Äijänen (FIN)
[5] Ashley Davies (ENG) v [Q] Miko Äijänen (FIN)

WATCH LIVE STREAMING OF THE 2016 SAVCOR FINNISH OPEN BELOW
Order of play (all times are local):
16:00 [5] Ashley Davies (ENG) v [Q] Miko Äijänen (FIN)
17:00 [3] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) v [WC] Jami Äijänen (FIN)
18:00 [8] Manuel Wanner (SUI) v [4] Daniel Poleshchuk (ISR)
19:00 [1] Shehab Essam (EGY) v [6] Asim Khan (PAK)