European Youth Championships | 23 Jul 2021

Title in Mixed Doubles for French pairings Alexis LEBRUN and Camille LUTZ

French pairings Alexis LEBRUN and Camille LUTZ clinched the title in the Under 19 Mixed Doubles Event at the GAZPROM European Youth Championships in Varazdin. Seeded at the position no 13, in the final they overcame no. 2 seeds Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania (11:9, 11:9, 11:9).

“It was very close match, as you can see all the games concluded by narrow margin 11:9. I am not happy how I played at the beginning, but later, Alexis created good chances for me and we played very good,” said LUTZ.

LEBRUN also noticed that LUTZ was a little bit nervous at the beginning.

“ Camille did not want to take risks, but I forced her to play more bold. I told her she need to play, because the results depends on her. Then Camille was much more confident,” explained LEBRUN.

In the quarterfinal Alexis LEBRUN and Camille LUTZ eliminated top seedings Germany's Kay STUMPER and Anastasia BONDAREVA before they prevailed against Ivor BAN and Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia in the semi final (6:11, 11:6, 11:5, 6:11, 11:8).

“This was the hardest match for us at the whole tournament. In two games Croatia's pairing were really better and we had to fight for each point,” said LUTZ.

LEBRUN added: “By the result you can predict how hard it was. Decisive game concluded by 11:8. We had advantage when LUTZ served against BAN, but when it was my turn we had difficulties, he flips very good. At 7:5 I had to change my service and we started to score. We forced them to lose the confidence with better service and eventually changed the course of the match.”

Unlike the top seeds, the Romania's combination, listed at position no. two at the seedings, Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania justified their status. They overcame Samuel KULCZYCKI and Anna BRZYSKA of Poland in another full five games duel (3:11, 13:11, 6:11, 11:8, 9:11).

“We are so proud to win this one. It was very hard to play against Samuel KULCZYCKI. He had very difficult style and uses a lot of pimples. It was crucial to stop him,” said ZAHARIA.