2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships
Top seeded player in Women’s Singles Event WAN Yuan of Germany booked her place in the third stage of the 2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships. In the Round of 16 will also play Adina DIACONU of Romania Anastasia KOLISH of Russia Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus Natalia BAJOR of Poland Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia Valeria SHCHERBATYKH of Russia and Anna WEGRZYN of Poland as the winners of their respective Groups.
From the position two in their Groups to the Main draw progressed Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey Jamila LAURENTI of Italy Alina NIKITCHANKA of Belarus Tatiana KUKULOVA of Slovakia Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania and Lisa LUNG of Belgium.
In the second return to the table today WAN Yuan overcame Rebekka CARLSEN of Norway (11:6 11:9 11:9 11:1).
“Today’s match was hard despite the final score. The first two sets were really close but then I regained focus and did much better ” said WAN before she beat Julia SLAZAK of Poland in full seven games thriller (11:13 10:12 5:11 11:2 11:5 11:8 11:6).
Adina DIACONU beat Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia (11:8 11:8 11:7 11:4) and Jamila LAURENTI of Italy (8:11 11:5 11:4 11:9 11:3).
“It was difficult to play today due to this new rubber. The play of Jamila was very strange too. I needed time to get accustomed to her style so that is what I did in the first set. After that I felt much better and things went just fine ” said Adina.
In Group C Anastasia KOLISH of Russia exceeded her position and took the first place from Alina NIKITCHANKA of Belarus. KOLISH beat host nation representative (11:3 11:8 7:11 5:11 11:4 3:11 7:11) and Anna KIRICHENKO of Finland (11:7 11:6 7:11 11:7 11:5).
“I feel that it’s much easier for me to play now than it was yesterday. The first matches are hard because we warm up and trying to read one another’s styles and personalities and now we know a lot about who’s who. Maybe that’s why this game was simple for me” said KOLISH.
Daria TRIGOLOS maintained unbeaten status. In the afternoon program she overcame Tatiana KUKULOVA of Slovakia (9:11 11:8 11:9 11:4 11:5) and Fanni HARASZTOVICH of Hungary (11:6 8:11 11:6 11:4 10:12 11:9).
“I did my best to get the first place in the Group. I was nervous and I knew it would be difficult to reach my goal. Through the three games that I played today I felt the ball but lost focus sometimes. For example games 2 and 5 in last match: I opened them good but then something went wrong which resulted in losing points. It was the first time that I played with HARASZTOVICH and it was tough. Maybe it was for the psychological factor too – I knew I was going to be the first in the Group and this caused tension ” admitted TRIGOLOS. “Support is very important for me and today I felt extremely confident thanks to the Belarusian fans. I am usually anxious but not this time. I’d say that the second match was harder than the first one. In the beginning I was unaware of what to do but having understood the situation at the table I developed my strategy and imposed my play to Tatiana KUKULKOVA which she couldn’t handle.”
Natalia BAJOR of Poland overcame Marketa SEVCIKOVA of Czech Republic (11:6 11:5 7:11 11:9 12:10) and Simay KULAKCEKEN of Turkey (11:4 11:134 13:11 11:6 11:7).
“The last match was hard but I managed. I have won 4:1 and this result needed focus at every point so I was. I mainly served long and short backhands because I knew my adversary could hardly receive them ” explained BAJOR.
Valeria SHCHERBATYKH of Russia beat Nadezdha BOGDANOVA of Belarus (7:11 11:13 11:9 11:13 9:11) and Airi AVEMERI of Estonia (13:11 12:10 11:5 12:10).
“I had prepared seriously for the match against Airi because I knew I had to win here. I’ve got used to the ball and to the venue already so now I can play like I always do. Avameri is a non-standard player with tricky style but I’ve already faced an athlete with such play in Russia so I knew what to expect from her. “
