Wales put in promising performances amid strong competition at Finlandia Open

A squad of six travelled out to Lohja, Finland to represent Wales at the 2025 Finlandia Open in December.

Amid an incredibly strong field and fantastic players, our Welsh representatives put in strong performances to show promise for the future.

Congratulations to Lily Walters, Ruby Elliott, Danielle Kelly, Rhys Hetherton, Harry Street and Toby Harwood on doing themselves proud on the European stage, and thank you to coaches Cerys Evans and Nathan Thomas for their support throughout.

Find results below:

Under 21s

In this event, everyone played in a group stage and then a knockout event for those finishing first in the group.

Lily Walters especially impressed, picking up a solid 3-2 win against the talented Swedish youngster Sofia Sahle.

Lily Walters – 0-3, 0-3, 3-2

Ruby Elliott – 0-3, 0-3

Toby Harwood – 0-3, 0-3

Rhys Hetherton – 0-3, 0-3

Harry Street – 0-3, 0-3

Open

The highlight for Wales in the Open competitions came from Danielle Kelly, who finished 12th out of her field of 60 courtesy of some fantastic results in which she showed her resolve.

Getting off to a losing start, Danielle subsequently went on a five-match winning run in which she won 3-0 twice. Most impressively, however, is the manner in which she won 3-2 in each of the other three victories she collected, twice trailing 2-1 and once 2-0 to go on and win each time. Eventually placed in the winners’ draw, Danielle went on to secure a 12th-placed finish in the Women’s Singles.

Danielle Kelly – Won 5, Lost 4, Finishing Position 12^th / 60

Ruby Elliott – Won 0, Lost 7, Finish Position 46^th / 60

Lily Walters – Won 1, Lost 7, Finishing Position 56^th / 60

Rhys Hetherton – Won 2, Lost 7, Finishing Position  63^rd /104

Toby Harwood – Won 0, Lost 9, Finishing Position 94^th / 104

Harry Street – Won 0, Lost 9, Finishing Position 103^rd / 104