The eighth day of play at the European Youth Championships in Ostrava welcomed the top 16 seeds into the singles stage across all four categories, bringing a wave of excitement, intense rallies, and several early upsets.
In the Under 19 Girls’ Singles Event, a few notable names made an unexpected exit. The highest-ranked player to fall in the Round of 64 was Lilou MASSART of Belgium, the no. 9 seed, who was defeated by Lizaveta TSIMASHKOVA (AIN), seeded only 98th. Marziyya NURMATOVA of Azerbaijan is also out, while no. 50 seed Hannah SILCOCK of Jersey advanced with a strong performance.
Karolina HOLDA of Poland, seeded no. 10, narrowly escaped elimination after a dramatic seven-game duel against Irina GIMENO FONT of Spain (no. 48).
“I started the match really well and was leading 3-1, but then GIMENO FONT started playing much better. She kept the ball on the table, and we had a lot of long rallies, some over 20 balls. That was the toughest part for me,” said HOLDA. “In the last game, she had two match points at 10-8, but I stayed focused and just tried to play my best table tennis. The key was to stay calm and play every ball to the table. Honestly, I perform better under pressure, it really helped me win this one.”
Julia LEAL of Portugal (seeded no. 35) added to the list of surprises by eliminating Germany’s no. 13 seed, Lorena MORSCH.
In the Under 19 Boys’ Singles Event, Uros NINKOVIC of Serbia (no. 67 seed) advanced to the Round of 32 for the first time by defeating Portugal’s Clement LAINE.
“We played a year and a half ago in Varazdin, and I lost. I learned my lesson, and this time I got my revenge,” said NINKOVIC. “He beat me 3-1 after I had a 1-0 lead and match point at 10-9. That loss stayed with me.”
NINKOVIC will now face another familiar name: England’s Connor GREEN.
“He beat me twice in the team event. I’m pretty sure he has a game plan for me,” he added. Serbia finished 19th in the team event in Ostrava.
Several other seeded players exited earlier than expected. Tom CLOSSET of Belgium (no. 10) lost 0-4 to Denmark’s Dominykas SAMUOLIS. Sweden’s William BERGENBLOCK (no. 13) fell 2-4 to Martin FROSETH of Norway. Itay AVIVI of Israel overcame France’s Nathan PILARD, and no. 14 seed Rafael KONG of Portugal was defeated by Luxembourg’s Aaron SAHR (no. 56).
In the Under 15 Girls’ Singles Event, the Round of 64 brought its share of surprises. Croatia’s Lena BENKO (no. 9 seed) was eliminated by Italy’s Manon LOTH (no. 55) in five games. Poland’s Lena PUZIO (no. 64 seed) also exceeded expectations by defeating Czechia’s Simona HOLUBOVA (no. 24 seed) in straight games.
Austria’s no. 3 seed Mariia LYTVYN faced tremendous pressure but recovered from a 1-3 deficit to beat Poland’s Aleksandra NAWROCKA (no. 51). Türkiye’s Enya HU, seeded no. 16, found herself in even deeper trouble, trailing 0-3 against Gali BEZALEL of Israel (no. 90), before dramatically turning the match around to win.
Top two seeds, Germany’s Koharu ITAGAKI and Czechia’s Hanka KODET, safely secured their places in the Round of 32.
In the Cadet Boys’ Singles Event, there were no surprises among the top-ranked players. Danilo FASO of Italy and Gorkem OCAL of Türkiye advanced with solid performances. However, Germany’s no. 8 seed Lukas WANG suffered an early exit after a tight seven-game battle against Bulgaria’s Viktor DIMITROV (no. 72).
Tianxiang ZOU of Spain (no. 63) delivered a standout performance by defeating Slovakia’s Filip NAGY (no. 20 seed) in straight games. Meanwhile, Israel’s Lion Koren SEREF showed great composure to neutralize the defensive style of Sweden’s Albin INGESTROM, winning in straight but hard-fought games to eliminate the no. 12 seed.
