France concluded their quarterfinal match in the Under 15 Girls event at the ORLEN European Championships without any major alarm. Nina GUO ZHENG and Leana HOCHART overcame Ukraine’s Veronika VASYLENKO and Daria KOVALOVA in both singles and doubles matches.
“I was a little nervous at the beginning and I lost the opening game against VASYLENKO but after that I managed to calm down. I played without stress and easily prevailed without any problems ” said Nina.
HOCHART mentioned that her forehand spin worked well today which gave her confidence in her win over Daria KOVALOVA.
Czechia overcame a spirited team from Sweden. The hardest hurdle was the opening game which lasted the full five games. Veronika POLAKOVA beat Gabriela AALTONEN after a fierce fight. Hanka KODETOVA overcame Siri BENJEGARD 3-0 and the doubles also prevailed in straight games.
Veronika POLÁKOVÁ said “It was the hardest match of the tournament for me. I didn’t expect Sweden to reach the quarterfinals at all; I expected someone else to be there. I didn’t think that the Swedes would be so good because we trained with them at the beginning of the year and know them. We had to focus even more on each match. This will be my second medal at the European Championships but I didn’t even think about last year’s Belgrade before the match. That’s in the past and now we’re focused on the next championship.”
Germany secured a medal in their match against Moldova. Josephina NEUMANN lost the opening game against Ecaterina SIREAC but she teamed up with Koharu ITAGAKI in the doubles to overcome SIREAC and Inna LESCINSCAIA in superb style. Koharu won both her singles and doubles matches.
“I was very nervous at the beginning of the match. It is my third European Championships but still the thought of playing for a medal and the overall atmosphere was overwhelming ” said Josephina who was born in 2010. “I lost but we have a very strong team and we managed to find a way to answer their unusual style. We don’t often have the opportunity to play against players with pimples and a defensive style. It was a challenge at first.”
Spain’s Maria BERZOSA and Irina GIMENO FONT prevailed against Hungary’s Sophie BARCSAI and Nora DOHOCZKI. Irina lost her match against Nora but Maria was successful in both singles and doubles.
