The men’s doubles final at the ROMSTAL European Under 21 Championships is set after two convincing semifinal performances, with Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER and Wim VERDONSCHOT set to face the Italian-Turkish combination of Danilo FASO and Görkem ÖÇAL.
BERTELSMEIER and VERDONSCHOT booked their place in the gold medal match with a commanding 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-9) victory over Belgium’s Tom CLOSSET and Czechia’s Stepan BRHEL. The German pair controlled the match throughout, using strong service and receive play to dictate the rallies.
“It was an amazing match. We dominated from start to finish. We had a good service-receive game and we could maintain control during the match,” said BERTELSMEIER.
Although they had never faced their adversaries as a doubles pair before, both Germans were familiar with them from singles competition.
“We know them both from singles. We had not played against them in doubles, but we could imagine what it would be like,” he explained.
The top seeds also highlighted the importance of adapting during the encounter.
“Of course, we made some small tactical adjustments, playing a short ball or a long one to see how they reacted.”
Communication continues to be one of their strengths.
“We did pretty good. We are communicating a lot and we have good harmony.”
In the second semifinal, FASO and ÖÇAL produced another impressive display to defeat Connor GREEN of England and Mael VAN DESSEL of Luxembourg 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-9).
The pair were particularly pleased with the manner of the victory after overcoming a difficult opening-round challenge earlier in the competition.
“We are very satisfied. We won 3-0 against very good players. Our first match against the Romanians was very hard,” said FASO.
For ÖÇAL, the semifinal was a first encounter with the Anglo-Luxembourg pairing.
The turning point came in the tightly contested second game, where the Italian-Turkish duo edged through 12-10.
“The second game was very difficult. At 1-1 it would have been a completely different story than leading 2-0. That was the decisive set,” FASO noted.
Despite holding a comfortable advantage in the third game, they still had to withstand a late comeback attempt.
“In the last set we led 9-4, but they played really well afterwards. After the timeout we were happy to win an important point,” added ÖÇAL.
The final will now pit the dominant German partnership against one of the tournament’s surprise stories, with both pairs aiming to finish their impressive campaigns with the European Under 21 title.
Men’s Doubles Semifinals
- Andre BERTELSMEIER, Wim VERDONSCHOT (Germany) – Tom CLOSSET (Belgium), Stepan BRHEL (Czechia) 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-9)
- Connor GREEN (England), Mael VAN DESSEL (Luxembourg) – Danilo FASO (Italy), Görkem ÖÇAL (Türkiye) 0-3 (7-11, 10-12, 9-11)
PHOTO by: Mihaela-Ionela BOBAR and Simion Sebastian TĂTARU
