The opening day of the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku promised great and exciting tournament. Opening round of the Women’s Event already started with the upsets. In Group C top seeded Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania suffered by the ha
The opening day of the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku promised great and exciting tournament. Opening round of the Women’s Event already started with the upsets.
In Group C top seeded Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania suffered by the hands of the Kristin SILBEREISEN of Germany in four games (13:11 11:6 7:11 11:3).
“I surprised myself as well ” stated SILBEREISEN.”I did not expect victory over SAMARA. She was a favorite and I was focused on preparations for other matches. Last time we played against each other she beat me easily.”
Recently SILBEREISEN changed her style. “I worked on my receive of serve and in past six months I improve that segment in part where I play backhand on forehand side. Not so many girls play that way. In addition I have nothing to lose. I was relaxed. For SAMARA it was opposite situation. She was under pressure to beat me.”
SAMARA failed to post the victory even in the next Round. HU Melek of Turkey who came to Baku straight from China made a clean record today. In the first round it was Russia’s Polina MIKHAILOVA who suffered whilst in the evening SAMARA lost. Polina also concluded the day without victory whilst Kristin left the hall unbeaten.
Defending champion LIU JIa of Austria faced former teammate Petrissa SOLJA and concluded the opening round successfully (11:6 11:9 11:9). “It was strange feeling playing against each other. We know each other very well. However last year in the group phase of the same event we met and I also succeeded. I am in good shape and ready for the tournament ” said LIU.
In Group B WU Jiaduo of Germany overcame Bernadette SZOCS of Romania in four games. Regarding the rankings it was expected result but still WU had some difficult moments against SZOCS recently. Georgina POTA of Hungary concluded her morning task in less stressed style. She beat LI Qian of Poland in straight games.
In Group D LI Jiao of Netherlands is unbeaten after two round. After she overcame Irene IVANCAN of Germany in the opening round next in line was Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic. IVANCAN recovered in the afternoon to beat Natalia PARTYKA of Poland. “Now I can be more relaxed. It is great relief that I recorded victory. My worst nightmare was to leave the competition without single victory. Now everything is easier ” explained IVANCAN.
Irene talked how difficult is to play best of five matches in Singles Event. “It is normal in Team’s Event but in Singles it is extremely hard. You have to be fully ready from a very beginning and to start in full speed. For the players with defending style of play is very difficult. Usually we save most of the power for the end of the match. In addition it is hard to stay focused in such big venue. Here we have a lot of spectators the noise is very high ” explained Irene.
IVANCAN suffered from the injury so her arrival to Baku was under question mark. “Our physio and doctor did a great job. They helped me recover in few days.”
