STAG 2017 European Youth Championships
In the Junior Boy’s Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships Bulgaria’s Stefan TODOROV caused the major upset by beating Like SAVILL of England in the second round (8 -6 9 9 12). TODOROV is currently ranked at the position no. 115 at the European Rankings whilst SAVILL is Europe’s no 35. He continued with the good results and reached the Round of 16 after victory over Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria (5 -10 -7 -2 6 7 10).
“It was tough game. I started the game thinking I will be better then him. It meant I needed to be focused on each ball and every ball had to be errorless. I tried to block the game with the short services and to be first to attack. I was playing to his forehand. Sometimes I will make a longer service to his left and I made a lot of variation on that service. Unfortunately this tactics did not work at the beginning but at the end it paid off ” said Stefan after first victory.
Favorites were free yesterday and today they came fresh from the break. At least no. one seed Cristian PLETEA of Romania who beat Finn VETVIK of Norway in the opening round and against Antonino AMATO of Italy in next. His compatriot Rares SIPOS who prevailed against WALASZEK of Poland before he beat JHoan MASIP of Spain.
Iannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece joined them after victory over Mislav MARTINEK of Croatia.
“I did not have any problems at all. So far it was good season for me. I was at the World Championships this year with senior team and it helped me gain the experience ” said SGOUROPOULOS who overcame Laurens DEVOS of Belgium in evening program.
Jonathan THIMON of Sweden already cased the upset yesterday by beaten Istvan MOLNAR of Hungary but today he proved it did not come as an accident. He reached the third round by beating Greece’s representative Georgios STAMATOUROS (-7 -6 10 3 9 3).
“I was under stress at the beginning because my adversary put so many balls at the table. I was losing 0:2. When I recovered in third game I felt my adversary started to lose his steam and it boosted my confidence. From that moment on I just kept attacking “ said THIMON.
In next Round he suffered by the hands of Denis IVONIN of Russia.
Carlo ROSSI of Italy beat the member of thegold medal winning team Tobias HIPPLER of Germany.
“I feel so good. This year was not easy for me I did not have good results as I used. Beating the champion now will help me. When I played I think of my family ” said ROSSI.” I was more active then my adversary. In easch game I tried something new and fought for each point. “
Top seed in Cadet Boys Singles Event Vladimir SIDORENKO easily prevailed in his second round match against Romania’s Andrei TOMICA of Romania.
In next reigning European champions beat Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland.
At the start of the day Tiago LI of Portugal beat Alessandro CICCHITTI of Italy but he was stretched to full distance. LI recovered from two games to null in reverse.
“Playing in front of the home crowd put an extra pressure on me. Few times during the match I was very nervous. In some moments I was to passive but I managed to win ” said LI.
The joy did not last for long. In next round LI suffered by the hands of Myshaal SABHI of France.
In the second Round Felix WETZEL of Germany beat Amau PONS of Spain in six games (-4 -10 7 9 7 2) before he sealed the faith of Tomas MARTINKO of Czech Republic.
“I was two null down because I was struggling to put a spin on the ball. I did not give up and at the start of the third game I attacked with more spin to his forehand and to the middle ” said WETZEL after the match against PONS.
Lode HULSHOF from Netherlands beat Matteo GULADI of Italy to reach the third Round (3 -8 10 9 -3 -6 8).
“This is good victory for me because I am lower ranked player compering my adversary. I was 3:1 up because I was very aggressive and on semi long play I was very strong. From 3:1 to 3:3 I lost my focus and I was only putting the balls on the table waiting for Matteo’s error. Unfortunately he did not made any mistakes so I had to change something. On the decisive game I won because I was only focused on that was going on the table ” said HULSHOF who suffered in the next round by the hands of Gleb IVANOV of Russia.
Truls MOREGARDH beat Maciej KUBIK of Poland and Emir CULPEDIN of Romania on his way to best 16 tonight.
