Of the four German mixed doubles pairs entered into the Orleans Masters Olga Konon and Peter Kaesbauer were the unlikeliest to be regarded as potential finalists. With Lamsfuss/Herttrich and Seidel/Efler above them in the pecking order there was no one more shocked that the pair themselves that they blasted into the final.
-I cannot believe it, I just really cannot believe that we are in the final said Konon.
The Germans have won four lower ranked BEC circuit events in the past 5 months in an effort to glean some world ranking points and get in the main draw of BWF tournaments. With not enough points in the bag for main draw this week Konon and Kaesbauer had to come through qualification just to take their place in round 1 proper.
This week however all the hard work appears to be paying off even though they struggled to get the win over the line today against Prasetya and Islami of Indonesia.
-We had a good lead in the second game at 18-10 and when you start to think you have the win in sight things potentially can go wrong. It is dangerous to start thinking like that, commented Kaesbauer.
The Germans steadied the ship in the end and scream from Konon upon victory was enough to be heard across Orleans.
-I am so happy to get to this final with Peter. We have worked hard for this opportunity. I was a huge relief to win in the end as point by point they started to put pressure on us.
-In the end we just went back to playing safe and putting the shuttle in court and then the game just came to us.
The Germans will now face Sara Thygesen and Niclas Nohr (pictured above) in tomorrow’s final after the Danes stuttered to a three game win over Dremin and Dimova of Russia
-The Russians are tricky to play as their style is not so normal said Thygesen
-We started very slow and were 17-13 behind. We did manage to get things going and even though we lost the first set we felt we were back in the match.
Speaking about the final tomorrow against the Germans Thygesen was coy when suggested that they, the Danes, would be favourites for the title.
-Oh I think it is a 50-50 match for sure and that is the way I will see it when we go on court tomorrow.