Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner win the Elite16 tournament in Hamburg. The Olympic bronze medalists beat the German European champions Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann 21:18, 18:21, 18:16 in the final.
Hüberli/Brunner showed great strength of nerve on the final day in the northern German port city. They fended off one match point each against Müller/Tillmann at 13:14 and 14:15 in the third set before converting their second to make it 18:16. At 14:15, Hüberli shone with a block. "That gave me a lot of confidence. I didn't think much after that point," she said. The result was strong attacking shots to win the match.
Hüberli/Brunner's semi-final had already been a thriller. The duo defeated Valentina Gottardi/Marta Menegatti 21:15, 17:21, 21:19. It was only the seventh match point for the 31-year-old from Schwyz and the 28-year-old from Zug that decided the match. Hüberli/Brunner had already met the Italians in the group phase. They also won that match by the narrowest of margins - 16:14 in the third set.
The triumph in Hamburg was the Swiss women's second title at the highest tournament level. They celebrated their first in April in Tepic, Mexico. However, they also failed to reach an Elite 16 final three times, including in Hamburg in 2022. Now it worked in the far north.
"The win in Tepic was hugely important, it feels like we needed it," said Brunner. "We waited a long time for it and had to fight hard for it. Since then, we feel like we have more stability and confidence in close matches." That was evident in Hamburg. Müller/Tillmann had previously won twelve times in a row.
SDA
