Europe Top-16 Cup | 7 Feb 2015

SAMSONOV fails quarters despite victory

In the quarterfinal of the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku will play Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany vs. Adrien MATTENET of France, Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal vs. Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece, Robert GARDOS of Austria vs. Simon GAUZY o

On his way to the quarterfinal best-ranked European player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany lost only one game. In the ultimate match in the Group he overcame Par GERELL of Sweden. Simon GAUZY of France overcame Andrej GACINA of Croatia to join him.

Reigning champion, Marcos FREITAS was under pressure in the opening stage of the match against Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden, but eventually he recorded another victory and saved his record clean. In the ultimate match of the Group stage, Adrien MATTENET was stretched to full distance in the duel against Steffen MENGEL of Germany, but he beat the favorite to book second place in the group and place in the quarterfinal.

In Group C we needed a little bit of knife-edge mathematics, with games ratio to determine the positions. Gionis PANAGIOTIS of Greece beat Bastian STEGER today, but he suffered defeat yesterday against Joao MONTEIRO. However his straight games win over Vladimir SAMSONOV proved crucial. Gionis concluded the first phase at the top spot, followed by MONTEIRO. Portugal’s player suffered defeat by the hands of Belarus and top seeded player in the Group, but one game that he won against SAMSONOV was sufficient to launch him at the position no. two in the group. SAMSONOV failed the book his quarterfinal place, despite the victory.

In the direct clash for the top position in Group D, Tiago APOLONIA failed to justify his rankings. Robert GARDOS concluded the first phase of the competition unbeaten, whilst Portugal’s star moved to the next stage from the spot no. two