Stephan Cipra Second Twice More - Sep 4, 2017

Stephan Cipra is now the holder of the Fight Night Combat "Always The Bridesmaid" title, awarded to the player who has reached the most final matches without yet winning a tournament.

In August, the final of the Magdeburg 2017 combat tournament featured the latest instalment of the Stephan Cipra-Martin Schwalenberg rivalry. Last year Martin needed to win a single match at the Cottbus 2016 Fight Night in order to earn himself an invite to the European Masters. In a very close match, won 5-4, Stephan pulled off the upset and denied Martin his place.

The scoreline in the Magdeburg final was the same, but in Martin's favour. Martin won his second Magdeburg title in a row and earned himself 250 rankings points.

Last weekend Stephan was back in action at the Suderburg 2017 Fight Night, and out of 14 players he qualified as the second seed. In his semi-final he beat 2015 Suderburg champion Friederike Kraaz 5-1, but lost to top seed Fabian Fehlhaber 1-5 in the final. This was Fabian's second Suderburg final, and his first Fight Night title.

Stefan has now appeared in four Fight Night finals without winning one. This equals Alex Müller's and Jon Peat's four second place finishes before winning a title, but is still lags one behind Julius Preu's run of five finals before winning a title.

But with three second places so far this year, each worth 150, Stephan has climbed to 15th in both the 2017 Race Rankings and the 52 Week Current Rankings.

Can Stephan get across the line in his next tournament final? Stay tuned!