Germany, Poland, Sweden and France secured their places in the semifinals of the Under 15 Boys Teams event at the European Youth Championships in Gondomar. Monday afternoon’s semifinals will see France face Poland, while Germany take on Sweden.
Third seeds Germany ended the run of top seeds Spain one step short of the medal rostrum, claiming a 3-1 victory.
Tien Nghia PHONG gave Germany the opening point after a dramatic five-game battle against Alexander MALOV. PHONG won the opening two games before MALOV fought back by taking the next two, 12-10 and 15-13. The German regained control in the decider, cruising to an 11-4 victory.
Spain responded through Ladimir MAYOROV, who defeated Lukas WANG in straight games, edging a tight second game 13-11 to level the tie.
Germany moved back in front with a superb doubles performance as WANG and PHONG defeated MAYOROV and Marcos GOMEZ in straight games.
PHONG then sealed Germany’s place in the last four by defeating MAYOROV in another five-game thriller. After the players shared the opening four games, PHONG held his nerve to win the decider 11-7, ending Spain’s title challenge.
Fourth seeds Poland progressed with an impressive 3-0 victory over ninth seeds Romania. Jakub TURECKI put Poland ahead by defeating David TORO in four games. After narrowly dropping the opener 12-10, TURECKI responded strongly, taking the next three games 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.
Hubert KWIECINSKI wider the gap with a dominant straight-games victory over Tudor SAFTOIU.
The Polish pair then wrapped up the tie in emphatic fashion as TURECKI and KWIECINSKI defeated Mihai IORDAN and SAFTOIU in straight games to book their place in the semifinals.
Sixth seeds Sweden produced one of the biggest upsets of the day, edging second seeds Türkiye 3-2 to secure a place on the medal rostrum.
Görkem OCAL gave Türkiye the perfect start with a straight-games victory over Joel ISAKSSON, but Emil ELLERMANN levelled the tie by defeating Emre BUCAK in four games.
Sweden moved ahead in the doubles as ELLERMANN and Erik KOGERFELT overcame OCAL and Kaan TUNA in four games, winning two tight opening games before closing out the match emphatically.
OCAL kept Türkiye alive with a four-game victory over ELLERMANN, forcing a deciding fifth match. ISAKSSON then held his nerve against BUCAK. After the players split the opening two games, the Swede took control of the match, winning the final two games 11-5, 11-4 to complete Sweden’s memorable victory.
ELLERMANN highlighted the importance of targeting the tie strategically.
“Before the tie, I felt we needed to beat Türkiye’s second player because Görkem is one of the best players in the world and extremely difficult to beat. That also made the doubles especially important. Erik and I had a clear tactical plan. We wanted to limit Görkem’s opportunities to attack strongly and direct more of the play towards his partner. Whenever Görkem was unable to take the initiative, we tried to attack first ourselves.”
KOGERFELT explained the doubles tactics that proved decisive.
“My aim was to keep the return short and create a forehand opportunity for Emil to finish the point. On the important points, we also used a lot of backspin. That made it difficult for them to attack consistently, and they missed several balls under pressure.”
ISAKSSON admitted the deciding singles was mentally demanding.
“I knew the deciding match would be very difficult because Emre had played very well against Emil. I tried not to think only about myself. I was thinking about the team and how much I wanted to win that final point for everyone.”
France completed the semifinal line-up after edging Czechia 3-2 in another thrilling quarterfinal.
Ondrej MORAVEK gave Czechia the opening point by defeating Nolan JOHNSTON in five games, before Noah TESSIER levelled the tie with a four-game victory over Oliver OLEJNIK.
Czechia regained the advantage in the doubles as MORAVEK and OLEJNIK defeated Quentin SANDONA and TESSIER in five games after recovering from 1-2 down.
TESSIER once again rescued France, coming back twice against MORAVEK before dominating the deciding game 11-6 to force a winner-takes-all fifth match.
JOHNSTON then completed France’s comeback. In another five-game battle, he overcame OLEJNIK 11-8 in the decider to send the French team into the semifinals.
