European Championships | 20 Sep 2018
Bernadette SZOCS overcame LI Fen
Photo: Rémy Gros ITTF
2018 LIEBHERR European Championships
Bernadette SZOCS beat the odds and overcame European champion from 2013 LI Fen in the Round of 64 at the Women’s Singles Event at the 2018 LIEBHERR European Championships in Spanish Alicante. Romania’s player succeeded in next round in big style, in straight games (7, 3, 7, 6).
“The odds were against me. We played many times before and in most occasions she was better, but I was ready today. I suffered from the injury, so I had to prepare even better than usual. I talked with my coach and with the people who know how to play against LI,” said SZOCS.”I was so unhappy when I saw the draw. Could not believe that I will meet LI at such early stage. However, I thought if you want to be a champion you have to beat great player soon or a latter. It proved soon is better, because I regain my confidence with this victory.”
Another young player also upset the rankings. Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia overcame NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg (6, -8, 9, 8, 12).
“When I started to play I just wanted to win a point against NI and when it happened I was relieved. Then I saw I can play against her and I seized my opportunity. She is very experienced and clever, even now I do not believe that I did it,” said LUPULESKU.
ZHANG Xuan of Spain overcame Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia (-13, -7, 8, 6, 6)
“I was very nervous before the match, because BALAZOVA is very dangerous player. I was under pressure to stay focused and I was not happy with the start of my match. However, my game improved during the match and I very good service game extra confidence. Barbora does not feel confident when she is playing against lefthanders and it also helped,” said ZHANG.
Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN of Romania overcame Kristin LANG of Germany (8, -8, 12, -9, 6, 8).
“Kristin play with lot of power and it very hard to take control out of her game. I had to play more aggressive and to take the risk. In key moment I changed my service to confuse her,” said MONTEIRO DODEAN.
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