Nerve-wracking men’s doubles: Lane/Vendy (ENG) end up victorious

What a final! One or two people in the audience probably even forgot to breathe at times, as exciting as this men's doubles final was. The Indonesians Muhammad Shohibul FIKRI/Bagas MAULANA, top seeds at the Swiss Open this year, had shown brilliant form in the tournament so far and had yet to drop a set. The English doubles Ben LANE/Sean VENDY, seeded eighth, had already reached the Swiss Open semi-finals last year and were probably all the more eager to win the tournament this year.

The two pairings played world-class badminton right from the first moment. The spectators were spellbound and chants of "In-do-ne-sia" or "Let's go England let's go" rang out loudly through the hall. The atmosphere was great. Although England were usually one or two points ahead throughout the set and even had a score of 19-16 at one point, they did not manage to win the set undisturbed. Lane/Vendy had to fight their way to 24-22 before they had secured the set.

The second set continued in a similarly balanced fashion. The scores between the two doubles teams remained even closer than before, and apart from right at the start of the set, neither pairing was ever able to gain more than a two-point lead. The game was incredibly powerful from both sides, hard smashes were followed by amazing defenses, and more than once one of the players had to sprint to his bag in the middle of a rally to replace a racket with broken strings.

When the score was 21-20 in England's favor, there came a brief moment of shock: Sean Vendy tried to end the rally with a pushed ball at the net, but hit it into the net and also twisted his ankle. A murmur went through the crowd as he gets medical attention - will Lane/Vendy still manage to win the second set? And if not, can Vendy fight his way through an entire third set?

The answer came a few rallies later. Both pairs missed match point after match point, and it was not until the score was 28-26 that it became clear: Sean Vendy and Ben Lane are the winners in the men's doubles at the Swiss Open 2024 - much to the delight of the crowd. Out of sheer joy at winning the tournament, Lane and Vendy even threw their T-shirt and racket into the crowd, making at least two people particularly happy. What a day!

Final score:
Ben LANE/Sean VENDY (ENG) [8] vs. Muhammad Shohibul FIKRI/Bagas MAULANA (INA) [1]
24-22, 28-26