Winners of the 2012 Euro Africa Circuit, Flanders (Belgium) Open in Antwerpen are Yannick VOSTES of Belgium and Szandra PERGEL of Hungary. At the final hurdle VOSTES delighted home crowd by beating HUANG Sheng-Sheng in six games. Top seeded player from Ta,
Winners of the 2012 Euro Africa Circuit, Flanders (Belgium) Open in Antwerpen are Yannick VOSTES of Belgium and Szandra PERGEL of Hungary. At the final hurdle VOSTES delighted home crowd by beating HUANG Sheng-Sheng in six games. Top seeded player from Taipei suffered in six games 2:4 (11:1, 8:11, 8:11, 11:9, 9:11, 7:11). Previously VOSTES beat Filip SZYMANSKI of Poland 4:1 (11:8, 11:4, 9:1, 12:10, 11:1). HUANG was stretched to full distance against Steffen MENGEL of Germany 4:3 (7:11, 11:4, 8:11, 9:11, 11:8, 11:7, 11:2).
“Unbelievable!” was the first word that Yannick pronounces after his final. “It has been a while since I was able to play this good. I felt good when I started in this tournament and had a lot of confidence, but I could not imagine winning here in my home country. This is fantastic after all the effort I put in my comeback after the last two painful years with the problems with my back.”
Yannick did not start well in the final, as he could only score one point in the first set. “I had a very difficult start. I had problems receiving his serves and he played better overall. But with the help of Martin BRATANOV, I made some tactical changes. After I won the second game, we knew it was important to keep my lead. That is why the time-out at 10-9 in the fifth game was so crucial.”
VOSTES had a 10-6 lead before he took his time-out.
HUANG Sheng-Sheng, who currently lives in Gdansk (Poland) had a difficult tournament with many close matches. “It is the first time I play with no coach and even no partner”, he explained. “Usually I prepare the match with someone and I get help during the match to adjust. It was very difficult to control my mind, and I sometimes played crazy. I did not play badly throughout this tournament. During the final, I had problems with my backhand, which is usually my strongest side.”
In Women’s Singles Event another top seed struggled. Sara RAMIREZ of Spain losta against Hungary’s Szandra PERGEL 2:4 (10:12, 10:12, 11:8, 11:9, 6:11, 10:12). In semi final RAMIREZ beat Alena LEMMER of Germany 4:0 (12:10, 11:9, 11:8, 11:9) whilst PERGEL succeeded against Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia 4:2 (13:11, 7:11, 8:11, 11:9, 11:3, 11:5).
In the final at 10-8, Ramirez saved two match points, but the third was right for the Hungarian girl. “I am really happy I was able to finish the match at 4-2. I can not predict what would have happened when it was level again,”said PERGEL.
In the all-French final of the Boys Under 21 Event Romain LORENTZ overcame Thomas Le BRETON to secure the title 4:1 (11:5,11:4,14:16,11:7,11:5). In the duel between top seeded LORENTZ and second seeded LE BRETON, no. one succeeded. “We know each other very well from both training and competition, which makes our duels always special. The last three encounters I lost from Thomas, but I have my revenge now,” said LORENTZ. “I had a good felling today, even though I am pretty tired after playing so many matches the last days. I kept my concentration and used a service he found difficult to return.”
In the Under 21 Girls Singles Event favoreite also prevailed. Top seeded Barbora BALAZOVA beat Alina ARLOUSKAYA of Slovakia in seven games duel 4:3 (11:13, 11:4, 12:14, 1:9, 7:11, 11:1, 11:6). “I was fighting against myself in this final and seemed to have a ‘lucky’ side. Whenever I was on that side of the table, I managed to win the games. On the other side, I always had a difficult start. My opponent was playing really good. In the end, when I got on my good side again, she tried to be more aggressive but took more risks and made the faults.”
(by Gijs LAMON)
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Photo: Yannick VOSTES
