Europe Top-16 Cup | 6 Feb 2016

SHEN and HU in the final

ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup in Gondomar

 

In the final of the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup in Gondomar tomorrow will play HU Melek of Turkey and SHEN Yanfei of Spain.

 

For a less then 30 minutes SHEN Yanfei booked her place in the final. On the other side of the net, unable to find her game, Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania suffered throughout whole duel 0:4 (5-11,7-11,9-11,6-11).

 

In very convincing style SHEN dominated.

 

“I feel much better then yesterday. It took time before I settled into my rhythm in Portugal,” said SHEN.” Today everything worked perfect.”

 

 It was not good news for SAMARA. Beside few moments in third game, she was all the time in reverse.

 

“The most important thing was to be quick. And prevent her of imposing her rhythm. My return worked good, I blocked her and she could not attack,” explained SHEN what happened in the semis.

 

HU Melek beat reigning champion LIU Jia  of Austria on her way to the ultimate stage 2:4 (11-9,5-11,11-8,11-13,5-11,8-11).

 

“We played fur times before, but we are often together at the trainings in Linz. She is always dangerous. Her left hand service is very difficult to manage. That is why I have to correct my tactics at the beginning. I started with the full power strokes and it opened the door for her. After I lost the opening game, I added some extra spin, and slow down the game. In fourth game it was 10:7 for LIU, but managed to win that set. That was the crucial moment,” explained HU.