In tomorrow’s Under 19 Boys Singles event semi-final No. 1 seed Darius MOVILEANU of Romania will face Leon BENKO of Croatia. In the other semi-final another Romanian Andrei ISTRATE will clash with Flavien COTON of France.
MOVILEANU overcame Hungary’s David SZANTOSI in five games (7 9 -5 13 6). Last year’s Doubles Champion Andrei ISTRATE beat Daniel BERZOSA of Spain (8 -11 -7 5 5 4).
Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT of France recovered from 0-3 to level the match against Leon BENKO. At 9-9 in the seventh game BENKO sealed the duel (9 8 3 -9 -6 -6 9).
“I was under severe pressure; I was leading 3:0 and he came back. In the deciding set I was down 5:8 and managed to win 11-9. Now I am so happy because it is my first medal in European Championships. I am very happy because my coach and I prepared very much for this ” said BENKO.
Flavien COTON overcame Andre BERTELSMEIER of Germany (6 10 -5 -9 11 -7 4). Coton remarked “It was a really tough match. It was late in the evening and my opponent played strong. He changed tactics after 0-2 but I came back and found my best play. I look forward to the semifinal and I beat him last time.”
The Round of 32 in the Under 19 Boys Singles event was shattered with surprises. Notable names exited early including No. 4 seed Mateusz ZALEWSKI of Poland who lost to Austria’s Zhenlong LIU in five games (7 -11 6 6 6). No. 8 seed Tom CLOSSET of Belgium also finished his journey earlier than expected losing to Rafael KONG of Portugal in six games (-11 10 6 -9 7 6). No. 10 seed Samuel ARPAS of Slovakia lost to Croatia’s Borna PETEK in straight games (10 8 7 4). No. 12 seed Gabrielius CAMARA of the Netherlands lost to No. 21 seed Connor GREEN of England in a full seven-game thriller (5 7 -8 7 -5 -12 9).
