The penultimate day of the ROMSTAL European Under 21 Championships in Cluj-Napoca began with the Mixed Doubles semifinals, where the top-seeded pair of Iulian CHIRITA (Romania) and Anna HURSEY (Wales) secured their place in the final alongside Germany’s Wim VERDONSCHOT and Josephina NEUMANN no. 9 seeds.
See the pictures here.
CHIRITA and HURSEY produced a confident performance against Slovenia’s Brin VOVK and Sara TOKIC, the No. 17 seeds, winning 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-5).
Despite the convincing scoreline, the top seeds knew they were facing a pair that had exceeded expectations throughout the tournament and reached the semifinals with a series of strong performances.
“It was the first time we played against them. They had a very good tournament and defeated some strong opponents, so we knew it was going to be a difficult match,” said CHIRITA.
HURSEY was pleased with the way the pair handled the challenge.
“We are satisfied. We played really well. It was a tough match.”
As the match progressed, the pair made several tactical adjustments to maintain control.
“We changed a little bit in the second and third games and became more aggressive. We will try to make some adjustments again for the final,” CHIRITA explained.
The second semifinal saw Germany’s Wim VERDONSCHOT and Josephina NEUMANN defeat Romania’s Andrei ISTRATE and Italy’s Nicole ARLIA 3-1 (11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10).
The German pair returned to the final after finishing runners-up at last year’s championships, where they lost the title match to Romania’s Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA.
NEUMANN was delighted to secure another opportunity to compete for gold.
“I am happy that we reached the final again. We will give our best in the final.”
Although the German pair had never faced ISTRATE and ARLIA together in mixed doubles, they were familiar with them from other events.
“We never played mixed doubles against them before, but we have met them in singles and doubles.”
According to NEUMANN, one of the biggest challenges was dealing with the quality of the receive game.
“It was difficult to play good receive.”
In the crucial moments, teamwork helped them stay composed.
“We are a good team and we support each other. If one of us makes a mistake, the other can help and calm things down.”
Semifinal
Wim VERDONSCHOT, Josephina NEUMANN (Germany) – Andrei ISTRATE (Romania), Nicole ARLIA (Italy) 3-1 (11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10)
Iulian CHIRITA (Romania), Anna HURSEY (Wales) – Brin VOVK, Sara TOKIC (Slovenia) (11-3, 11-8, 11-5)
PHOTO by: Mihaela-Ionela BOBAR and Simion Sebastian TĂTARU
