Suez Helsinki Summer Challenger 2016
25-28 Aug, Helsinki, Finland, $5k

The Suez trophy stayed in the family.

Jami Äijänen made sure the trophy for the Suez Helsinki Summer Challenger stayed at home by winning this year’s issue. Younger brother Miko Äijänen won the event last year but had to pull out of the event with a flu in the first round.

Jami reached the final by beating fellow army companion Kristian Rautiainen after a fifth game retirement. Jami's opponent, top seed Iker Pajajes from Spain also had to fight for five games before beating Matas Tuomi in the semis.

The final started with the Spaniard taking clear dominance and the first game 4/11. Äijänen got his game going a bit better in the second and clinched the game 11/7 but Pajares was not going to give in and fought a 10/12 game and took a 2-1 lead.

That was for some reason all Pajares managed to perform in Helsinki. Äijänen put on the pressure and Pajares was not able to threaten Äijänen in the last two games.

"There will be no celebrations tonight as I have to be back at the barracks at nine o’clock,” said a very happy Äijänen.
 

Qualifying:

Qualifying Finals:
Kristian Rautiainen (Fin) 3-0Ahmed Ali Kiremli (Irq)           11/6, 11/4, 11/7
Belal Nawar (Egy) 3-0 Michael Babra (Swe)                   11/3, 11/1, 11/4
Hesham Mohamed Aly (Egy)3-1 Tatu Knuutila (Fin) 11/4, 7/11, 11/9, 11/9
Jami Äijänen (Fin) 3-1 Pascal Gomez (Esp)          11/0, 11/5, 10/12, 13/11

Qualifying Round One:
Kristian Rautiainen [1] FIN – Yannik Omlor GER 11/3 11/4 11/5
Ahmed Ali Kiremli [6] IRQ – Riku Mehta FIN 11/7 11/3 11/8
Michael Babra SWE – Hendrik Vössing [7] GER 5/11 11/3 11/3 9/3 rtd.
Belal Nawar [4] EGY – Heikki Ruotanen FIN 11/2 11/5 11/6
Hesham Mohamed Aly [3] EGY – Nuutti Ruokangas FIN 11/7 11/5 11/2
Tatu Knuutila [8] FIN – Jaakko-Antti Peltola FIN 11/6 11/5 11/1
Pascal Gomez [5] ESP – Anssi Määttänen FIN 11/7 11/3 11/8
Jami Äijänen [2] FIN – Aleksi Leskinen FIN 11/9 11/4 11/8

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27-Aug, Quarters/Semis:
Finals day saved by Äijänen

The Suez Helsinki Summer Challenger will again have a local contestant in the final when top seed Iker Pajares from Spain takes on local qualifier Jami Äijänen on Sunday afternoon in Helsinki

Saturday was a day of two rounds in Helsinki.



In the morning Pajares beat England’s Patrick Rooney in four games. Matias Tuomi came back from 1-2 to beat Belal Nawar from Egypt. Kristian Rautiainen came from two games down to beat third seed Frenchman Babtiste Masotti. In the last quarter Jami Äijänen secured a final place for Finland by beating second seed Aussie Matthew Hopkin.

The semis both went to five games. Pajares was the stronger against Matias Tuomi while the contest between the two Finns was sadly decided by an injury in the fifth game.
   

26-Aug, First Round

Good day for Finland in Helsinki

The first round of the Suez Helsinki Summer Challenger was a good one for the local players.

Wildcard Ville Karsikas did put up a fight with topseed Iker Pajares from Spain. The Spaniard was by far the stronger player and reached the quarters quite comfortably.

Finnish hope Miko Äijänen had to withdraw with a flu and was replaced by lucky loser Michael Babra. The Swede was beaten in straight games by Patrick Rooney. Qualifier Belal Nawar of Egypt beat Norwegian Adrian Østbye in four games and will meet fourth seed Matias Tuomi, the highhest ranked Finn in the draw.

The bottom half of the draw started with one match played to one point and the second was a walkower. Local qualifier Jami Äijänen played a fine match which took him to the quarters against 2nd seed Australian Matthew Hopkin.
 

25-Aug, Qualifying:

Qualifying complete in the Suez Helsinki Summer Challenger 2016

Two local players made their way to the main draw in Helsinki on Thursday night. Top seeded qualifiers Kristian Rautiainen and Jami Äijänen joined the three Finns already in the draw.