Top seed in the Under 15 Boys Singles Event, Danilo FASO of Italy, secured a medal at the European Youth Championships following a superb performance in the quarterfinal. Tomorrow, he will face No. 14 seed Jonas RINDERER of Germany in the semifinal.
In the quarters, FASO ended the impressive run of Poland’s Piotr LACKI, who was seeded only at No. 41.
No. 2 seed Görkem ÖÇAL of Türkiye also lived up to expectations, overcoming No. 32 seed Samuel KUHL of Germany.
“I played amazing and I am really happy to reach the semifinal. Last year, I lost in the Round of 16. To be honest, I didn’t have any tactic because I had never played against him before, it was our first encounter. I think the most difficult game was the first one, because I was losing and started to get nervous, but fortunately I managed to win 4-0. In the semifinal, I will fight and I hope to win,” said ÖÇAL.
For a place in the final, ÖÇAL will meet Italian Francesco TREVISAN, seeded No. 4. TREVISAN prevailed over Spain’s Ladimir MAYOROV (No. 19 seed) just a day before MAYOROV’s 12th birthday. Despite the quarterfinal exit, the young Spaniard left his mark in Ostrava.
“I was very focused because I had lost to him 2-3 in the team event, and I wanted a bit of revenge,” said TREVISAN with a laugh. “I started really well. The second game was the most important, it was close, and I won 20-18. I knew what to play against him because I had watched our previous match and learned from my mistakes. That was the key. I’m really happy to win this match and reach the semifinals. I’ll now play against ÖÇAL, who is a good player and a really good friend of mine. I think it will be a good match. We’ve played each other many times.”
The lowest-ranked player to reach the semifinals is RINDERER, who advanced after a thrilling battle against Kenan KAHRAMAN of Türkiye.