In the final of the Under 15 Boy’s Teams Event at the 2020 Dunav Osiguranje European Youth Championships France will meet Sweden tomorrow in the Belgrade STAK Arena.
France prevailed 3:1 against Hungary in the penultimate stage. Balazs LEI commenced the match against Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT in superb style and gave Hungary the lead. Flavien COTON brought back France to the game with the win over Botond Zoltan VARGA. LEI and Adam CSER faced Flavio MOURIER and Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT in doubles and France took over the the lead. The duel between COTON and LEI ended in favor of French player.
“Balasz was very dangerous for us and he proved it tonight. It was very good and difficult match and we all had to be at the top of the game. In my match against LEI I was 2:1 up and had 8:3 before he managed to level. I had to stay calm and to remain my focus ” said COTON.
In other semi final Ukraine’s Leonid YAKYMCHUK performed maturely against Noa DAHLSTROM. Noa could not find the answer for Leonid’s defending style of play. However Mykhailo LOVHA failed to continue in the same pace and William BERGENBLOCK nullified Ukraine’s advantage.Doubles composed of Nazarii SOLODKYI and Leonid YAKYMCHUK forced Peter ALESTEDT and William BERGENBLOCK to go full distance before Sweden took the lead in the match. BERGENBLOCK maintained his patience to overcome the defensive skills of YAKYMCHUK and led Sweden to the final.
“Win in doubles secured our victory that was the important game. YAKYMCHUK is very good player but on the other side I am very good with that kind of play. I have very strong forehand and seized my opportunities ” said William BERGENBLOCK.
Bulgaria forced top seeds to go full distance in the quarterfinal. Flavien COTON won both his matches against Stefan DIMITROV and Yoan VELICHKOV but Yoan beat Anthoine NOIRAULT and Bulgaria’s doubles also prevailed.
“We were favorites but Bulgaria played very well and they took a lead at 2:1. That is why my match against their number one VELICHKOV was very important. I won 3:0 but it was 14:12 11:4 16:14… very difficult one ” said COTON.
Hungary beat Israel 3:0. Balasz LEI and Botond VARGA overcame Natanel ABRAMOV and Uri ALMOUR.
“Every match was very important but after my win over Uri I was sure we are going to pass to the next round ” said VARGA.
It was much faster duel than one that Sweden was forced to go through against Czech Republic. Noa DAHLSTROM overcame Jindrich MORAVEK at the beginning and Jan SKLADA at the end. William BERGENBLOCK overcame SKLADA but after defeat in the doubles he also lost to MORAVEK.
“It was tough. We had to fight for each point and that was the key to success never to give up. The opening match was very important. When Noa won 3:2 it was crucial ” said BERGENBLOCK.
Ukraine overcame Romania. Leonid YAKYMCHUK and Mikhailo LOVHA overcame Luca OPREA and Rares CUESDEAN in three games.
“I am proud of my team and all what have we done at this tournament. The game here is at very high level. Also the support we have from each other makes us very strong ” said Leonid.
