Apuania Carrara secured their third consecutive Italian Super Cup victory by defeating Top Spin Messina WatchesTogether 5-2 at Palasport of Avenza. The competition unfolded on two tables playing the best of five singles out of nine.
The defending champions faced a challenging task from the start with Tommaso GIOVANNETTI upsetting the odds against Andrej GACINA and Matteo MUTTI performing well to defeat Mihai BOBOCICA.
In the subsequent matches STOYANOV took the lead but was then matched by Tomislav PUCAR BOBOCICA and GACINA. Only the encounter between GACINA and MUTTI ended in straight games.
“As always ” said Apuania Carrara’s coach Claudio VOLPI “when we face Top Spin Messina close matches emerge. The game ended 5-2 but the score could have been different. These matches are challenging to predict because all the athletes are strong and familiar with each other. The players from Messina always give their best against us. This Super Cup felt like a final and it’s normal that motivations for both teams were very high. They played at a top level and I have to congratulate them; they deserve it. I am very satisfied with the performance of our athletes; there was excellent team spirit and there was no discouragement when GACINA lost to GIOVANNETTI at the beginning. Everyone was aware that the match was still very long and there was time to recover. I’m happy because the guys wanted to win and despite a bad start we managed to get the match back on track with a lot of effort. Little by little the points started to come and in the end we could celebrate.”
Apuania Carrara – Top Spin Messina 5-2
Mihai BOBOCICA – Matteo MUTTI 1-3 (11-7 8-11 10-12 10-12)
Andrej GACINA – Tommaso GIOVANNETTI 2-3 (7-11 12-10 11-3 8-11 5-6)
Tomislav PUCAR – Niagol STOYANOV 3-2 (12-10 6-11 12-14 11-8 6-3)
Andrej GACINA – Matteo MUTTI 3-0 (11-8 11-6 12-10)
Mihai BOBOCICA – Niagol STOYANOV 3-2 (9-11 8-11 11-9 11-4 6-2)
Tomislav PUCAR – Tommaso GIOVANNETTI 3-1 (9-11 11-2 11-2 11-5)
Andrej GACINA – Niagol STOYANOV 3-2 (10-12 13-11 9-11 11-4 6-2)
