The Mixed Doubles competition at the ROMSTAL European Under 21 Championships reached the medal stage on Friday, with four pairs securing their places in the semi-finals and guaranteeing themselves a place on the podium.
Top seeds Iulian CHIRITA of Romania and Anna HURSEY of Wales continued their impressive run, overcoming Mateusz ZALEWSKI and Anna BRZYSKA of Poland 3-1 (11-5, 11-5, 13-15, 11-8). Despite dropping the third game, the favourites remained in control throughout the contest and booked their place among the last four.
The closest encounter of the round saw Andrei ISTRATE of Romania and Nicole ARLIA of Italy edge past Yoan VELICHKOV of Bulgaria and Lilou MASSART of Belgium 3-2 (11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5). After surrendering a 1-0 lead, the pair regrouped strongly to dominate the final two games.
The partnership is not a new one. ARLIA revealed that the duo had already enjoyed success together in previous years.
“We already played together, not recently, but we kept in touch. We won a lot of medals together over the years,” said ARLIA.
For ISTRATE, the key moment came when he managed to settle his nerves.
“It was a good journey so far, but this quarter-final was very close. The turning point was when I started to relax,” said ISTRATE.
The Romanian-Italian combination also believes there is still room for improvement.
“Maybe our mental side,” admitted ISTRATE. “When we are both playing well, we play really well together,” added ARLIA.
Brin VOVK and Sara TOKIC secured Slovenia’s medal in the event after defeating Clément LAINE of Portugal and Matilde PINTO of Portugal 3-2 (12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-8).
The Slovenian pair had played together only once before, at a senior WTT Feeder event, but they showed excellent understanding under pressure.
“This is our best result together and our first medal,” said TOKIC.
VOVK highlighted communication as one of their strengths.
“We talk a lot during the match and our coach helps us as well,” he explained.
After seeing their opponents recover from 0-2 down to level the match, the Slovenians held their nerve in the deciding game.
“We were very focused. After leading 2-0 they came back to equalise, but mentally we stayed strong in the last game and that brought us the win,” said VOVK.
Germany’s Wim VERDONSCHOT and Josephina NEUMANN defeated Connor GREEN of England and Veronika MATIUNINA of Ukraine to complete the semi-final line-up.
