The Norwegian International Championships (Series, 5.000 US Dollars) held in Sandefjord, Norway offered exciting matches with upsets in both the men’s and women’s singles finals.

Unseeded 16 year-old Dane Mia Blichfeldt had a phenomenal tournament and claimed the women’s singles title after winning two nail-biting three games matches against higher ranked players. In the semi-finals she beat the second seed Anna Thea Madsen, also from Denmark. The final proved to be equally exciting with Blichfeldt showing real strength under pressure and coming from behind to beat top seeded Olga Golovanova of Russia in the final.

Kasper Lehikoinen (pictured) of Finland also had a remarkable journey through the tournament. He worked his way up all the way from the qualification stage, knocking out the number two seed Mattias Wigardt of Sweden in the quarter-finals and fourth seeded Jordy Hilbink from the Netherlands in the semi-finals. In Sunday's men’s singles final, Lehikoinen met Dutch player Mark Caljouw. Caljouw (18) had earlier eliminated first seeded Raul Must during the first round of the tournament. Later he eliminated host nation's greatest hope Marius Myhre by knocking him out in the semi-finals. In the final Kasper Lehikoinen managed to win the match in two games.

After losing a close singles match to Olga Golovanova from Russia, Julie Finne-Ipsen of Denmark was able to enjoy a victory after all when she and her doubles partner Rikke S. Hansen beat Russian pair of Olga Golovanova and Viktoriia Vorobeve in the women’s doubles final.

Both the men’s and mixed doubles finals were title showdowns between Russia and Denmark. Russia came out on top in both finals, with Russia's Vasily Kuznetsov involved in both matches. In the men’s doubles, Vasily Kuznetsov and Nikita Khakimov beat Alexander Bond and Mathias Weber Estrup from Denmark in two games. In the mixed doubles finals. Vasily Kuznetsov and Viktoriia Vorobeva beat Danish duo of Alexander Bond and Rikke S. Hansen from Denmark also in two games.

The finals results:

MS: Kasper Lehikoinen (FIN) bt Mark Caljouw (NED) 21-17 21-16
WS: Mia Blichfeldt (DEN) bt Olga Golovanova (RUS) 19-21 21-16 21-19    
MD: Khakimov/Kuznetsov (RUS) bt Bond/Weber Estrup (DEN) 23-21 21-15
WD: Finne-Ipsen/Hansen (DEN) bt Golovanova/Vorobeva (RUS) 21-14 24-22
XD: Kuznetsov/Vorobeva (RUS) bt Bond/Hansen (DEN) 21-19 21-7

Click here for full results of the 2013 Norwegian International.

Article and photo by Sophie Thorell.

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