LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships
Since his first appearance in 1992 Vladimir SAMSONOV missed only one Continental Championships and it was last year. In a meanwhile he won three titles in singles and one in Doubles and Mixed Doubles each but he is still hungry of victories.
He proved that on the penultimate day of play at the LIEBHERR 2018 European Championships in Alicante. SAMSONOV over came no. two seed Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany in the Round of 16 (9:11 11:5 11:9 5:11 11:5 11:5).
“We are playing together for a long time and we know each other well. There is no big mystery for us regarding the service or tactics. However Dima was injured for a while his shape is not at the highest level ” said SAMSONOV.
There was no lack of good rallies in the match.
“At some point he was very fast. He forced me to change the tactics. He started to put every ball to the table so I had to avoid his backhand. I started to play in the middle ” said SAMSONOV.
OVTCAHROV agreed that the level of match was very high.
“In four opening games we played very fast but in last two it was different. I could not follow Vladi’s rhythm. He was very good today ” said OVTCHAROV.
After so many years in field it was interested to hear what is the biggest motive for SAMSONOV now.
“Next year Minsk will host European Games. It is huge motive for me. My city will welcome athletes at such big competition. I want to play there and I want to be good. You can not just come there and win after few weeks of practice. I am building up my shape and I hope it will be enough for good performance in Belarus. Of course before that I still want to win medal here ” said SAMSONOV.
However Germany still has the strongest ace in play. Top seeded Timo BOLL overcame Liam PITCHFORD of England in the Round of 16 (-9 10 9 4 -8 9).
“When I saw the draw and Liam in it I thought ‘This is it’. He is in very good shape here he likes to play against me I expected the difficult duel and so it was ” said BOLL. “I was not happy with the way I commenced the match. I had a bad start but I rose my game and I rebuilt my confidence.”
Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany overcame Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal (12:10 11:6 11:5 6:11 11:9).
“We knew each other very well because we played against each other for years in Saarbrucken but somehow he managed to surprise me. He was passive not as quick as I expected. However I seized the opportunity and attacked ” said FRANZISKA.
Benedikt DUDA of Germany was stretched to full distance in the match against Jon PERSSON of Sweden (9:11 11:9 4:11 11:7 11:6 11:6 8:11 3:11).
“I made few easy mistakes at the beginning so I had a shaky start. Eventually I managed to find the right rhythm.”
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