Who would have believed it? Finally Jaakko and Erik were able to play a tournament together!! With both having won an event with different partners it was interesting to see how they would perform together. With the summer approaching more and more teams start preparing and the event featured a full 16-team Main Draw. Seeded as number one had them play the first match, against some pro's from Loimaa.
Fortunately, they found a good start and profited from a couple of mistakes of the team Kellum/Uusitalo to win this match. So the first hurdle was cleared and the second match against Lehtinen/Niiranen was won, too. But the quarterfinals proved to be a tougher fight. Jyri Linnikko and Anton Krook from Poliisi-Biitsi, played a solid game. They took the first set and had a couple of opportunities to break away in the second set, too. But a strong spirit from Jaakko and Erik, plus good blocking and defending, levelled the match. The deciding third set then had J&E play solid and eventually win the game. Semi-final!
Tommi Koponen and Marko Peltonen made their way to the semi-final through the loser bracket, but in a strong fashion. They continued that way and with a couple of very unconventional shots, Marko kept a steady sideout and scored in blocking, while Tommi added some defenses, opening up a gap of 4 points. Then the fortunes changed when Jaakko and Erik started serving on Tommi and had a series of blocks on him. The score was even an only at 19:17 the first set was won. The second set started again with some moments of weakness in the beginning, but eventually errors were reduced to zero, blocks were increased and the match was won!
This pitched Jaakko and Erik against Pasi Iisakkala and Teemu Tolonen, who went through the tournament undefeated. Teemu replaced Pasi's regular partner Esa, who went to train in a warmer country. Well, the start was good, with aces and strong serves from Erik, but the opponents fired back in the same way. Still, good sideout by Jaakko and a very aggressive conversion of point chances kept Pade and Teemu at a secure distance until the end of the set. Okay, so far so good, but can this performance be continued? Yes, it can! J&E were determined not to give this match away and kept a steady pressure on Pasi, who every now and then was unable to kill the ball. This was enough to stay ahead and win the match.
Great to see that even together Jaakko and Erik can win a tournament!
