The ETTU Champions League Women’s historic season officially kicked off today in Novi Sad. Stage 1 marks the first step toward the inaugural ETTU Champions League Women Final 4.
Top-seeded club SKST Plus Hodonín from Czechia justified their status, but only after a hard-fought battle against Poland’s PGE Fibrain KU AZS Politechnika Rzeszów.
The Polish side had the better start, as 2013 European champion Fen LI defeated Karin GROFOVA. Binyue ZHANG then doubled the advantage with a win over Zuzanna WIELGOS, before Yerin KIM widened the gap to 2–1. At that point, LI and ZHANG looked ready to seal the victory, but LI was forced to withdraw due to injury.
“I went for a smash, but then I felt pain in the arm ligament. I have a problem with my elbow. I hope I will be ready for tomorrow,” said LI.
With the score tied at 2–2, WIELGOS and GROFOVA returned to the table. At 5–5 in the decisive game, GROFOVA seized the golden point to secure the win.
“They call me the expert for the golden point. I rarely lose it,” GROFOVA said with a smile of relief. “WIELGOS is very strong in the service game, but the key was to return well, and I managed to do it.”
Meanwhile, French side Saint-Denis TT 93 produced a commanding victory, sweeping Spain’s MIRÓ Ganxets Costa Daurada in straight matches. Hana ARAPOVIC, Jie LI, and Agathe AVEZOU dropped only one game in the process.
Hosts STK Novi Sad overcame former Champions League winners, Croatia’s STK Dr. Časl, in a thrilling 3–2 victory. Aneta MAKSUTI gave the hosts a dream start. Experienced Szandra PERGEL pushed MAKSUTI to the full distance but failed to capitalize.
“I’m really glad we started with a victory, we are all happy. My match was a bit uncertain — I was leading 2–0, and then I don’t know what happened. Szandra is very experienced, but at 5–3 for her in the fifth game I gave everything I had and managed to turn it around and win. I hope that gave some extra motivation to the team. My teammates played great, the atmosphere was fantastic, the crowd supported us, and this win was really important for us. I hope we will play just as well the day after tomorrow,” said MAKSUTI.
Coach Miloš TIOSAVLJEVIĆ added:
“As always, the first match in a tournament is probably the toughest. We started really well, Aneta won the first two games relatively easily, but PERGEL found her rhythm, leveled at 2–2, and even led 5–3 in the decider with two match points. Aneta didn’t give up, she kept believing in herself and managed to turn it around, winning the decisive points. That finish definitely lifted the spirits of her Russian teammates who joined us for this tournament.”
Stage 1 features clubs seeded from positions 9 to 16, divided into two groups of four teams. The group winners and runners-up will progress to Stage 2, where they will join the automatically qualified top eight seeds. Stage 2 will consist of four groups of three clubs each. The winners and runners-up from those groups will advance to the quarterfinals, contested in home-and-away format. The four winners will then proceed to the first-ever Women’s Champions League Final 4.
