LIEBHERR European Championships
Top eight seeds entered the playing arena for a first time on the second day of the LIEBHERR European Championships. The morning session did not produce any surprises. In Men’s Teams Event Greece overcame Turkey 3-0 Poland beat Serbia whilst in Women’s Teams Event Turkey suffered against Sweden and Ukraine overcame Bulgaria.
Number seven seeds Poland struggled against Serbia seeded at position no 22. Marek BADOWSKI and Jakub DYJAS overcame Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC and Szolt PETO to give favorites good start but Marko JEVTOVIC changed the course of the match. He overcame Samuel KULCZYCKI and in next encounter KARAKASEVIC prevailed against DYJAS to secure decisive match. PETO had a chance against BADOWSKI but from the third game it was clear that the opportunity has gone.
“We were very confident before the match as we are just back from a training time in Portugal last week. I had a good feeling and I felt better and better as I was approaching the competition. We have a very young team and we are very ambitious for the next matches ” said BADOWSKI.
Greece had a shaky start against Turkey. Panagiotis GIONIS was forced to go full distance against Abdullah YIGENLER but as Europe’s no. 14 gave Greece winning start Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Konstantinos KONSTANTINOPOULOS followed the rhythm. They prevailed against Ibrahim GUNDUZ and Zihni SAHIN in straight games.
“It is a good day for us. We have avoided being too tired before the match against Portugal. We knew that normally the match against Turkey was going to finish in our favor. However Abdullah Yigenler has had two match balls against me. He played these two points too fast and that was an advantage for me ” explained GIONIS.
In the duel against Turkey Swede Linda BERGSTROM overcame Sibel ALTINKAYA Matilda EKHOLM beat Pembe Gul OZKAYA and in five games match Christina KALLBERG succeeded against Ozge YILMAZ.
“I have made many mistakes with my forehand. Usually it is one of my strong points. This made the game more difficult for me. Then I started to find a better feeling again at the end of the match and I could win ” said Christina KALLBERG.
Bulgaria’s Polina TRIFONOVA was the only player to record the victory in the match against Ukraine. She beat Ganna GAPONOVA after five games but Maria YOVKOVA and Ivet ILIEVA could not follow her path. Tetyana BILENKO won her match and Margaryta PESOTSKA was the back bone of team’s success withy two victories.
“I have tried to think over it to put my opponent in a difficult situation. I tried to build my points. Today I have been very strong with my blocks and good on both forehand and backhand” said Margaryta PESOTSKA.
