Denmark’s Mai Surrow reflects on her recent performances at the Swedish Open 2020 in Uppsala.
The 27-year-old female player had a mixed fortune at the international series tournament on Sunday. She was in two finals and managed to win one. She claimed the women’s doubles title with Julie Finne-Ipsen, but was denied the mixed doubles title this year with her new partner Mathias Thyrri.
We kept fighting to hit every shuttle back
Mai Surrow and Julie Finne-Ipsen, world ranked number 77, caused an upset by getting into the final after defeating first seeds and 2018 champions Emma Karlsson and Johanna Magnusson from Sweden, world ranked number 39.
In the final, they overcame the challenge of fourth seeds Vimala Heriau and Margot Lambert from France. After saving four-game points in the first game, the Danes came back to 20-all and sealed the first game. They quickly took the lead 11-7 in the second game and won the match in a tense finish, 22-20, 22-20.
Surrow shared her views on the match.
- One of the most important things today was that we kept fighting to hit every shuttle back.
- We did not hit our best level today and we knew that the French girls were coming at us with a lot of power that we needed to handle, so I am very proud that we managed to fight our way to the winning side and kept our heads in the game even though it was very frustrating for us at times, she added.
Asked about their expectations for the new year, she answered.
- Julie is still on her way back from an injury and she is doing a great job. We have to be patient with her, but we would love to reach top 50 or maybe even top 45. It is a long shot, but we will try our best.
We had to dare pushing forward
In the mixed doubles final, Mai Surrow and Mathias Thyrri couldn’t provide much resistance to the Japanese Yujiro Nishikawa and Saori Ozaki, going down 21-17, 21-11.
- We lost today because we did not dare stepping forward on court. The Japanese played really well, and we had to dare pushing forward even though they always play with a high quality. We also need to learn how to play the longer rallies and keep working hard enough to get through with our attack. The Japanese are very solid players and we can not just expect to get easy points and get through on the attack right away, said Surrow.
- Mathias and I are still in a pretty new partnership and we have a lot to work on, but I think we are up for the challenge. If we can reach another final or maybe even a semifinal in an international challenge tournament, I would be happy for us, she added.