In tomorrow’s final of the Men’s Doubles event at the European Under 21 Championships in Bratislava, Eduard IONESCU and Darius MOVILEANU of Romania will face Andre BERTELSMEIER of Germany and Tiago ABIODUN of Portugal.
In the penultimate stage, last year’s runners-up IONESCU and MOVILEANU defeated Croatia’s Leon BENKO and Ivan HENCL 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2).
“We started very confidently and took the opening game easily. However, the Croatian pair changed their tactics. They raised the level of their play and became more aggressive on the backhand, which worked well for them. We lost the second game, but our confidence remained high. We also adjusted our game, looking for solutions to neutralize their backhands — and we succeeded,” explained IONESCU.
The anticipated all-Romanian final will not happen. Bronze medallists from 2024, Iulian CHIRITA and Andrei ISTRATE, lost to BERTELSMEIER and ABIODUN in straight games (6-11, 6-11, 6-11).
“It will be a great challenge for us. Unfortunately, Iulian and Andrei lost to them, but we will prepare well and hopefully beat them,” said MOVILEANU.
For the Portugal-Germany duo, Bratislava marked their debut tournament as a pair.
“This was our first tournament together, and it’s really amazing how quickly we adapted to each other,” said ABIODUN.
BERTELSMEIER added:
“We played well and very consistently. As the tournament progressed, we got to know each other better. We found a way to play effectively together — to put pressure on the opponents and create spectacular shots.”
