The Romania’s Andreea DRAGOMAN and the Dane Jonathan GROTH clinched the titles at the II Spain Masters 2020 which was held from 23 to 26 November at the RIU Plaza de España hotel in Madrid.
In the second edition of the Iberdrola Spain Masters DRAGOMAN overcame the revelation of the tournament Caroline KUMAHARA 4-0. KUMAHARA reached the final defeating the current Iberdrola Spain Masters champion Bruna TAKAHASHI in a match that had many twist and turns. TAKAHASHI struck first taking the first set (11-7) but KUMAHARA recovered (3-11 9-11) and take a 2-1 lead. Immediately TAKAHASHI took the lead again (2-3) but could not stay on same path due to the good work of her compatriot who won 11-6 and 11-7 the sixth and seventh games. In the lower part of the table DRAGOMAN also imposed her authority on the Serbian Marija GALONJA. The Romanian managed to take a long first set (15-13) and from there left no option to her adversary (11-6 11-9 and 11-8).
In the second RIU Spain Masters Jonathan GROTH took the glory defeating Portuguese first seeded Marcos FREITAS 4-1. The Danish player reached the final beating Joao MONTEIRO in a tough quarter-final duel where the ranking prevailed at the competitive pace of Joao MONTEIRO 4-3. In the semifinals GROTH managed to defeat the always fearsome Vladimir SAMSONOV showing from the start that he came for everything.
At the top Marcos FREITAS was the executioner of Spanish hopes. The Portuguese beat Carlos MACHADO first and Álvaro ROBLES later to reach the final.
Three Spanish athletes reached the final phase. Carlos MACHADO and Carlos CABALLERO lost in the quarterfinals. MACHADO fell 4-0 to FREITAS and CABALLERO awoke from his sleep against Vladimir SAMSONOV. At the Iberdrola Spain Masters Sofía-Xuan ZHANG was the most outstanding of the Spanish representation with two victories in the group stage against Charlotte CAREY from Wales and Eugenia SASTRE from Spain. Galia DVORAK could only claim a group stage win beating Romania’s Roxana ISTRATE.
Faced with the persistent health crisis the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation established firm criteria to create a ‘health bubble’ and maintain the health security of athletes tournament staff and staff at the RIU Plaza España hotel.
