2018 STAG European Youth Championships
Romania clinched three medals in both Junior Girls and Boys Doubles Events. Cristian PLETEA and Irvin BERTRAND of France who are at the top of Junior Boys seedings progressed to the semi final in superb style. Rares SIPOS and Dragos OPREA joined them. In Junior Girls Event Tania PLAIAN and Ekaterina ZIRONOVA of Russia followed the winning path.
PLETEA and BERTRAND overcame Vitor AMORIM and Tiago LI of Portugal in straight games. Tomorrow in the semis they will meet YANG Xinyuand YU Khinhangof Azerbaijan. YANG and YU prevailed after five games against Matteo MUTTI and Carlo ROSSI of Italy.
“We prepared well for the match. We understand each other very well and we have chances to win the title. From the next match we expect to play even better ” said Cristian PLETEA.
Rares SIPOS and Dragos OPREA were also stretchered to full distance in the match against Bastien REMBERT and Lilian BARDET of France but it was opposite scenario in the duel at the bottom of the draw. No. two seeds Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia lost in straight games against Lev KATSMAN and Maksim GREBNEV of Russia.
“The match was very nice because it was the first time we played together. For the moment it is was quite easy match. We will see in the semifinals because it will be harder but for the moment everything is ok ” said BERTRAND.
Lev KATSMAN : “It was a very tough match because every set was 11-9 or 12-10. It was a great fight but at the end of the game we found a good tactic and we won.”
OPREA had no doubt who will win th match.
“It was a difficult match but we knew that by the end we will be winners. We knew that we can turn the match from any score. We were positive all the time and we believed in ourselves. The key point of the match was the ball from 2-2 and 10-10 which got broken we got the point and gained the confidence to play further and win. I feel very positive that we can win ” said OPREA.
Sabina SURJAN and Tijana JOKIC of Serbia justified their status and overcame Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia and Fanni HARASZTOVICH of Hungary in the quarterfinal. They will meet Anastasia KOLISH of Russia and Lucie GAUTHIER of France in the semis. The combination of Russia and France prevailed against Hungary’s Helga DARI and Anna FEJOS.
“At the beginning it was very hard because we were under pressure but from second game it became better ” said Serbia’s JOKIC.
NING Jing and CHEN Xingtaiof Azerbaijan overcame Ozge YILMAZ and Ece HARAC ofb Turkey whilst Tania PLAIAN and Ekaterina ZIRONOVA prevailed against ChristinaKALLBERG and Alma ROOSE.
“It was not that difficult from my point of view but we had to play rough and to fight so I am very happy that I brought another medal for Romania ” said PLAIAN.
Ekaterina ZIRONOVA: “The match was not so hard because we played together 2 years ago. We won the European Championship so we know how to play together and everything is good.”
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