The top 8 seeded players had a free morning during the opening round of the Men’s Doubles Event whilst the rest were fighting to reach the Round of 16 to be played tomorrow at the European Under 21 Championships in Cluj.
Radim MORAVEK and Jan VALENTA of Czech Republic went full distance against Adrian DILLON and Jonas PROMBERGER of Austria 3:2 (-8 -10 6 8 2). Italy’s Tommaso GIOVANNETTI and Andrea PUPPO of Italy also were under pressure in the match against Tom SCHWEIGER and Lleyton ULLMANN of Germany 3:2 (0 -3 7 -10 10). The combination of Kas VAN OOST of Netherlands and Aljaz GODEC of Slovenia proved too strong for Hungary’s Balasz LEI and David SZANTOSI 3:2 (6 -14 9 -6 7).
Ukraine’s player had a very successful opening day in Singles and they continued to walk the same path this morning. Andrii GREBENIUK and Anton LIMONOV overcame Borna PETEK of Croatia and Arnau PONS of Spain in straight games (7 7 9).
“Despite the 3-0 win it was not an easy match as the result predicts. It was our first double match at this competition and it is always a little bit difficult to adjust in the beginning. During this match in the third game PETEK and PONS had 4-1 advantage but we get focused and we won. We played together for a long time and we communicate very well so we tried to play at our maximum. We think that we have a good chance to win our next matches and that’s why we hope for the best ” said LIMONOV and added:”I would like to say that at home in Ukraine as you already know the situation is not normal. For us it is very difficult to train and to participate in national competitions. Due to this reason we feel a kind of emotional pressure playing here at U21 European Championships 2022…”
In Women’s Doubles Event Polish players also continued with the wining trend; Anna BRYSKA and Zuzanna WIELGOS overcame Portugal’s Ines MATOS and Matilde PINTO in straight games (5 9 8).
“I am happy to be back in Cluj Napoca. I played here in 2018 at the European Youth Championships and for me it was an exciting experience. The match we just played against Ines and PINTO looked like an easy one what but it wasn’t. They are very good players so we are happy that we won said ” Anna BRYSKA.
Zuzanna WIELGOS talked about the match:”I would like to add that at the end of the third game we had a very close lead at 9-8 and I think that our trainer was inspired to ask for a time out. After the time out we won the last game11-8.”
Romania’s pairings Bianca MEI ROSU and Luciana MITROFAN overcame Spain’s Ainhoa CRISTOBAL and Eugenia SASTRE 3-1 (6 5 -11 9).
“It was not a so difficult match; we managed to play quite well. During the third game I could not play at my maximum. On the fourth game Luciana encouraged me and I really appreciate her help ” said Bianca MEI ROSU.
Luciana MITROFAN: “Despite the fact that we are team mates we do not know each other very well. We played as a doubles at Romanian National Championships but this was long time ago. However we worked hard during the training sessions before these Championships. The future matches will be tougher but I feel that we will play better said Luciana MITROFAN.
