600 spectators, who came to the Kibbutz Hatzor arena on Saturday, tried to support their local player Misha Zilberman in the 2013 Hatzor International men's singles final as good as they could. Zilberman, who did not lose a single game on his road to the finals, had a great start into the match against his Russian opponent Vladimir Malkov (pictured) and was in the lead 21-17, 20-17 - but he missed five championships points opportunities, and the 2nd seed from Russia managed to come back and to convert the game completely into his advantage. The Russian world number 50 took the victory over Zilberman 17-21, 24-22, 21-10.

Telma Santos surprised top seed

In the women's singles final, Telma Santos of Portugal surprised the top seed and favourite to lift the Israelian trophy, Olga Golovanova from Russia with a 21-16, 21-19 victory. The 30 years-old Santos, whose best world ranking was 55, came to Hatzor International after a break since she took part in the XXVI Spanish Open 2013 in May, had to prove that her current ranking of 355, does not reflect her real level. After the win she said: "I am very happy with my victory and I hope to continue with the progress for my next tournaments."



Vladimir Malkov went home with three titles

Men's singles champion Malkov also showed his doubles skills by winning the men's doubles trophy with partner Vadim Novoselov and the mixed doubles category with Viktoriia Vorobeva . The Russian men beat the Welsh duo of Nic Strange and Joe Morgan in a nail-biting final 21-18, 19-21, 27-25. And in the mixed doubles Malkov and Vorobeva beat the Czech-Russian duo of Jan Fröhlich and Katerina Zvereva in two straight games.

Olga Golovanova and Viktoriia Vorobeva of Russia beat Maja Pavlinic/Dorotea Sutara of Croatia to win the women's doubles crown.

The finals results:

MS: Vladimir Malkov (RUS) - Misha Zilberman (ISR) 17-21, 24-22, 21-10
WS: Telma Santos (POR) - Olga Golovanova (RUS) 21-16, 21-19
MD: Malkov/Novoselov (RUS) - Morgan/Strange (WAL) 21-18, 19-21, 27-25
WD: Golovanova/Vorobeva (RUS) - Pavlinic/Sutara (CRO) 21-19, 21-7
XD: Malkov/Vorobeva (RUS) - Fröhlich/Zvereva (CZE/RUS) 21-13, 21-12

Photos by BadmintonPhoto.

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