Matches will be held this Friday and Saturday Feb 9-10
All four favorites have confirmed their status away in the first quarter-final games of 2017/18 Seamaster ECLW held two weeks ago as KTS Enea Sairka Tarnobrzeg (no. 1 seed) defending champion TTC Berlin Eastside (no. 2) Dr. Casl (no. 3) and actual ETTU Cup Women winner Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor (no. 4) gained big advantages for the secong leg (Feb 9-10). Both Berlin and Dr. Casl won their encounters in straight games against Szekszard (no. 5) and Lille Metropole (no. 7) respectively whilst Tarnobrzeg and Bursa secured 3:1 wins against Linz AG Froschberg (no. 10) and TT Saint Quentinois (no. 8).
“All three our players were highly motivated and went into the game with full concentration. Of course 3:0 and a set-ratio of 9:2 is surely big advantage. I know that I can rely on this team 100% and I am sure that we will confirm that on 9 February in front of our fans” stated Berlin`s Coach Irina PALINA after first match held in Hungary.
Two days ago German club has announced that Matilda EKHOLM signed contract with them joining her long-time doubles partner Georgina POTA. Sweden`s player has started season in Spanish team UCAM Cartagena.
French club Lille Metropole travels to well known table tennis city of Zagreb without big expectations in spite of having in their line-up newly-crowned champion China Construction Bank 2018 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup Bernadete SZOCS. There is a chance to see a reprise of the Montreux`s final as 2017 Europe Top 16 winner LI Jie plays for Dr. Casl. SZOCS lost to FU Yu 3:2 in the opening game of first leg while Maria XIAO and Agnens LE LANNIC were beaten in straight games by world no. 9 DOO Hoi Kem and no. 10 LI Jie respectively.
Bursa secured clear victory in France thanks to actual world no. 13 Hong Kong`s LEE Ho Ching (beat no. 45 Chinese Taipei`s CHENG Hsieh-Tzu and Daniela MONTEIRO-DODEAN) and current individual European champion HU Melek who paved the way to the win as she defeated MONTEIRO-DODEAN in the opener.
Sofia POLCANOVA is able to collect two points against any ECLW participant and that`s why two-time champion Linz still believes that can beat no. 1 seed Tarnobrzeg. Actual world no. 20 23-year old POLCANOVA prevailed against no. 35 LI Qian in the opening game in Austria and showed good fight against great defender HAN Ying but lost in four games. HAN provided two points for Tarnobrzeg while Elizabeta SAMARA bronze medalist from Europe Top 16 in Montreux has added one.
Polish champion has completed one important agreement few days ago changing its name to KTS Enea Sairka Tarnobrzeg.
“Thanks to our new sponsorship contract we`ll be able to be more focused on our table tennis goals hence we are very grateful to Enea” stated Tarnobrzeg`s Coach Zbigniew NECEK.
Seamaster ECLW quarter-finalists individual win-loss records
Tarnobrzeg: HAN 6-0 SAMARA 4-1 LI Qian 4-1 PAVLOVICH 1-0
Lille Metropole: KHETKHUAN 0-3 SZOCS 4-1 LE LANNIC 2-3 XIAO 1-3
Bursa: LEE 7-3 HU 5-1 NOSKOVA 3-2
Linz: POLCANOVA 4-4 ZHANG 2-4 HO 1-2 BERGSTROM 1-2
Dr. Casl: DOO 5-0 LI 3-1 FU 5-0 ZHOU 2-0 SREBRNJAK 0-1
Szekszard: MIKHAILOVA 1-4 MADARASZ 0-5 PASKAUSKIENE 0-1 CHENG 4-1 IMRE 0-1 PAYET 0-1
Berlin: SHAN 5-0 POTA 5-1 PALINA 1-1 MATSUDAIRA 1-2 MUHLBACH 0-1
Saint Quentinois: MONTEIRO-DODEAN 3-4 EERLAND 4-3 LE MANSEC 0-3 CHENG 1-2 ZARIF 0-1
Seamaster ECLW quarter-finals second leg
Feb 9 18:00 KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg – Linz AG Froschberg (1st leg 3:1)
Feb 9 18:00 Dr. Casl – CP LYSSOIS LILLE METROPOLE (1st leg 3:0)
Feb 9 19:00 TTC Berlin Eastside – Szekszard AC (1st leg 3:0)
Feb 10 16:00 BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR – TT SAINT QUENTINOIS (1st leg 3:1)
