In the final of the Under 19 Girls Team Event tomorrow at the European Youth Championships, France will meet Ukraine. After today’s semifinal clashes, Portugal and Spain clinched bronze medals.
The penultimate stage went according to the seedings. The reigning champions knew exactly what they had to do. Nina GUO ZHENG, Leana HOCHART, and Jade Quynh-Tien HUYNH completed the semifinals in straight matches against Portugal, represented by Julia LEAL, Matilde PINTO, and Mariana SANTA COMBA. After the opening duel between GUO ZHENG and PINTO concluded in favor of Nina after five games, the path to victory was paved.
“We started with GUO ZHENG against PINTO. It was a really difficult match, but in my opinion the most important one. When it was 2-2, we weren’t sure if she would win or not. On the bench, I was really nervous because it’s always more comfortable when you know you’re leading. But when she won 3-2, it gave me even more power going into my match against LEAL.
I won that match 3-1. In the first game, I struggled a bit and lost 9-11, but in the next games I changed my serves and tactics, which helped me a lot. My forehand was also a big advantage, I won many points with it.
In the last match, HUYNH played against SANTA COMBA and played amazingly. She won 3-1. It was a really good match, and she knew exactly what to play against her. We’re going into the final with a clear head, and we will try our best. We want to enjoy it!” said HOCHART.
Ukraine had to play one match more in their semifinal against Spain. Veronika MATIUNINA set the path with a 3-0 win over Maria BERZOSA, but Camila Renata MOSCOSO once again proved her worth in Ostrava by defeating Olha PONKO.
The turning point of the match was the third duel between Mariona MUNNE and Daria KOVALOVA. It could have gone either way. KOVALOVA led 2-0 with two close 11-9 wins, but MUNNE recovered to level at 2-2 before the Ukrainian sealed the match 11-8 in the fifth game. The experienced European Under 21 champion MATIUNINA then secured the win.
“We were a bit surprised because they changed the position of BERZOSA. She normally plays in the number one spot. The opening match was mine against BERZOSA, and I’m really happy with my performance. I beat her 3-0. I played against her recently, and it was 4-2, a really hard match, so I’m even more pleased with this win. The second match was PONKO against MOSCOSO, unfortunately, she couldn’t find her game and rhythm, but she still fought hard. The third match, KOVALOVA against MUNNE, I think was the most important for us, and I’m really happy with her performance,” said Veronika.
MATIUNINA added:
“KOVALOVA played really well. She was leading 2-0, and after it became 2-2, we got a bit stressed, but she stayed strong mentally and managed to win.My second match was against MOSCOSO. I was a little nervous, but I found a way to calm myself. I knew she played really well against Romania, but I prepared as best as I could and won. I stayed strong mentally.’
Speaking of the duel for the title MATUININA said:
“In the final, we will play against France, which is a really strong team with very good players. I know them because I’ve played against them before. We will discuss tactics and try our best to beat them. We know it will be really difficult because they are the no. 1 seeds here. So, we’ll see.”
