The penultimate day of play at the European Youth Championships in Ostrava brought intense competition and high-stakes drama, as players battled for places on the medal rostrum in the Singles and Doubles events. With the semi finals and finals ahead, tomorrow’s matches will determine who reaches the top of the podium.
In the Under 19 Boys Doubles Event, last year’s champion Iulian CHIRITA of Romania, who previously partnered with Andrei ISTRATE, is now playing alongside Tiago ABIODUN of Portugal. The top seeds were pushed to the limit by Croatia’s Leon BENKO and Ivan HENCL, seeded no. 5. Down 1-2, CHIRITA and ABIODUN stepped up to turn the match around and advance to the semifinals.
Dragos BUJOR and Robert Alexandru ISTRATE of Romania (no. 11 seeds) became the first pair to secure a medal. In the quarterfinals, they overcame Connor GREEN of England and Lleyton ULLMANN of Germany (no. 8 seeds) in straight games without alarm.
Yoan VELICHKOV of Bulgaria and Julian RZIHAUSCHEK of Austria, seeded no. 15, endured a rollercoaster match against the second seeds Daniel BERZOSA of Spain and Marcel BLASZCZYK of Poland. After taking the first two games, VELICHKOV and RZIHAUSCHEK saw their lead slip away as their opponents leveled the match. However, they withstood the spirited comeback to secure their place on the medal podium.
VELICHKOV reflected:“We had a really good start and were 2-0 up, but then they came back to 2-2. I think we could have closed the match a little earlier, but our nerves definitely played a role at that point. We were also a bit lucky, especially in the last game. We knew they were the favourites, but that’s exactly why I told myself and my partner that we had to believe we could beat them.”
RZIHAUSCHEK added:“For me, the most difficult and most important game was the first one. When you’re not the favourite, it’s really important to take that opening game.”
VELICHKOV continued: “To be honest, the third game was the hardest for me. When you feel you can win, it actually becomes more difficult, especially when you know they’re the no. 2 seeds. They won that game, but it didn’t change our mindset. We stayed focused throughout the match.”
RZIHAUSCHEK concluded:“I think now we can beat anyone, we work really well together. Our goal is to win. We actually won a medal together in U15 a few years ago, but this will be our first in the U19 category. I’m really happy and proud of us.”
Meanwhile, Rafal FORMELA and Alan KULCZYCKI of Poland (no. 17 seeds) overcame Brin VOVK PETROVSKI and Miha PODOBNIK of Slovenia (no. 16 seeds) to claim their spot in the semifinals.
In the Under 19 Girls Doubles Event, Ulyana MIASHCHANSKAYA and Lizaveta TSIMASHKOVA (AIN) nearly produced a huge upset. Seeded no. 51, they held three match balls at 2-0 (10-7) against the top seeds Leana HOCHART and Nina GUO ZHENG of France. However, the French pair managed to recover and narrowly escape defeat, advancing to the medal round.
Veronika MATIUNINA of Ukraine and Matilde PINTO of Portugal (no. 4 seeds) ended the remarkable run of Poland’s Zofia SLIWKA and Oliwia WATOR. The Polish duo, seeded just no. 56, made a stunning push to the quarterfinals before being stopped by the strong Ukrainian-Portuguese combination.
No. 2 seeds Bianca MEI ROSU of Romania and Sara TOKIC of Slovenia needed only three games to dispatch another Polish pair, Natalia BOGDANOWICZ and Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA (no. 6 seeds), and reach the semifinals.
Anna HURSEY of Wales and Mia GRIESEL of Germany, seeded no. 3, came through a thrilling five-game battle against Maria BERZOSA of Spain and Lilou MASSART of Belgium (no. 5 seeds). Earlier in the day, HURSEY had staged a dramatic singles comeback from 0-3 down, and she once again endured a full-distance match alongside GRIESEL—this time coming back from a two-game deficit to secure a spot in the medal round.
In the Under 15 Girls Doubles Event, the 2023 champions and top seeds Koharu ITAGAKI and Josephina NEUMANN of Germany will face last year’s runners-up, Renata SHYPSHA of Spain and Siri BENJEGÅRD of Sweden, for a place in the final.
In the other semifinal, Alexia NODIN and Lou-Anne BOCQUET of France will meet Laurynne CABARDO and Angelina BEBAWY of Sweden.
While the progress of the German and Spanish pairs was expected, the lower half of the draw produced some surprises. CABARDO and BEBAWY (no. 8 seeds) first defeated Switzerland’s HU and WU (no. 13 seeds), before taking down Gioia Maria PICU and Manon LOTH of Italy—the pair that had earlier eliminated second seeds Hanka KODET of Czechia and Lana BENKO of Croatia.
In the Under 15 Boys Doubles Event, the top three seeded pairs all secured their spots on the medal podium. Last year’s bronze medalists and current top seeds, Danilo FASO and Francesco TREVISAN of Italy, overcame Germany’s Lukas WANG and Tien Nghia PHONG. In the semifinals, they will face Hungary’s Mark GERGELY and Lenard SZABO (no. 3 seeds).
In the bottom half of the draw, second seeds Görkem ÖÇAL and Kenan KAHRAMAN of Turkey defeated Italy’s Giulio and Pietro CAMPAGNA. Their semifinal opponents will be Louis FEGERL of Austria and Ladimir MAYOROV of Spain (no. 12 seeds), who pulled off a notable upset by defeating England’s no. 4 seeds Abraham SELLADO and Kacper PIWOWAR.
For Ladimir MAYOROV, this marks a milestone, his first medal at the European Championships in the Under 15 category. The Spanish talent, who turns 12 tomorrow, already holds two bronze medals from the Under 13 European Championships.
