European Games Minsk 2019
Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus delighted the home crowd by creating the first upset in the First Round of the Women’s Singles Event at the European Games 2019 in Minsk. She overcame Dana CECHOVA Czech Republic (5-11 9-11 11-6 11-13 10-12)
Coach Alexandre PETKEVITCH was satisfied after the match.
“Nadezhda was very nervous 30 minutes before the match. I had to make her believe she can win this. She just needed a little bust of self-confidence ” said coach PETKEVITCH. “She played very good. She followed the tactics we made and used a lot of variation in her strokes. With powerful backhand and service it proved very good.”
Nadezhda admitted she was nervous.
“I am the first player from Belarus to play today and I had problems to calm down. Coach and I studied Dana’s matches and we saw the chance with her forehand. It is not so strong like the backhand so I seized my opportunity there. In addition I put a lot of variation in my service game on each side. She could not read it ” explained BOGDANOVA.
Laura GASNIER France overcame Lisa LUNG of Belgium (11-8 11-4 11-8 11-9).
“Lisa is a very good player and this match meant a lot mentally to me. I moved good my service game and backhand served me good and that is important for my confidence. In the next round I will play against no. one seed Bernadette SZOCS of Romania and I am relaxed. I have nothing to lose there ” said GASNIER.
Amelie SOLJA of Austria easily prevailed against Carey CHARLOTTE of Great Britain (11-7 11-8 11-5 11-6).
“I did not give myself much time to be under pressure. I was focused only to the match when it started ” said Amelie who will meet NI Xia Lian in Round two. ”I am looking forward that match. I will play against my hero. We met last time in 2007 in Belgium Open and she beat me. Now I have my chance.”
Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden prevailed against Maria YOVKOVA of Bulgaria (11-5 13-15 15-13 11-8 11-5).
“I started very well and won the opening game but after that she put every ball on the table. She blocked me very well I had big problem with my attack game. It was very close match I had to stay calm and to play strong for each ball ” said Linda.
Rachel MORET of Switzerland proved too strong for Emina HADZIAHMETOVIC of Bosnia and Hercegovina (15-13 7-11 11-5 11-9 13-11).
“We know each other very well because Emina is coming often to play with us. She put a lot of balls to the table and I was ready for long rallies. Now I will meet Portugal’s YU Fu and that is the match where I do not have anything to lose ” said MORET.
The player with the defensive style of play Hanna GAPONOVA of Ukraine beat Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia (11-5 8-11 14-12 9-11 11-6).
“It is a good win. To be honest I did not expect such difficult match. I had to be very careful and focused. In addition new balls are not working in my favor. I play game with lot of spin and rotations so I had hard time adjusting to new balls. I already felt it would be a problem on practice sessions here. I hope it will get better by the game because in the next round I will meet EERLAND of Netherlands and I have good chances against her ” said GAPONOVA.
After the clash between experienced Galia DVORAK of Spain Iana NOSKOVA of Russia emerged victoriously (11-4 9-11 11-7 11-9 11-5).
“Gala is a very good player so I was not very happy after I saw the draw. However I started good but my game had so many ups and downs. I only managed to took complete control in the fifth game ” explained NOSKOVA.
Debora VIVARELLI of Italy suffered by the hands of Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey (9-11 7-11 11-9 6-11 10-2).
“I am still junior player and almost everyone is older then me here. It made me nervous at the beginning. Luckily my service game was at the very high level today and that helped me control the game ” said Ozge.
Alex GALIC of Slovenia lose in straight games against Giorgia PICCOLIN of Italy (8-11 5-11 3-11 4-11).
“According to rankings Alex is better player then me but I think she is injured now. Even at the World Championships she did not play at her usual level she was not moving good ” said PICCOLIN.” In the next round I will play against MIKHAILOVA. She has very specific style not so typical defense. It will be hard.
Olympian and Paraolympic competitor Natalia PARTYKA of Poland overcame Andrea TODOROVIC of Serbia (11-13 11-9 11-9 11-7 11-5).
“The turning point was the second game. I lost the opening one and it was really close in the second. Coming back from 0:2 will be very hard. After that game by game I built my confidence ” said PARTYKA.
YANG Xiaoxin of Monaco prevailed against Tin Tin HO of Great Britain (13-11 11-5 11-9 11-7).
“It was first match for me today so I was under pressure at the beginning. It took time before I entered into the game. My backhand was good today and I produced a lot od variations in my game ” said YANG.
SHAO Jieni of Portugal beat Aikaterini TOLIOU of Greece (11-6 11-1 13-15 9-=11 11-3 11-5).
Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg recovered from being 3-1 down in the match against Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia to win the second round duel (9-11 17-19 11-8 9-11 11-9 11-6 11-7).
“It has been few weeks since I returned from the tournaments in Asia and I still have problems with feel sick. I have a cold and I feel weak. I was favorite in this match but KUKULKOVA had much better start. However I did not lose hope. All five games concluded by narrow margin. I kept on fighting until the end ” said Sarah.
Nathalie MARCHETTI of Belgium overcame Hungary’s Szandra PERGEL (11-6 11-8 4-11 11-7 9-11 10-12 9-11).
“The most difficult moment of the match was when I led 8-4 in the fifth set. I helped my opponent to win because I began to hurry in the attack. I had to stick to my tactics wait for her mistakes endure long balls. Xiao felt confident began to play powerfully on the left. I played against XIAO at the 2016 European Championships. For 3 years young athletes can make a strong jump. She has become much better at defense playing ” explained Viktoria. “My next adversary Elizabeta SAMARA is one of the favorites in this tournament. She plays very well with defensive style players. She is left-handed she has a good let and side top spin. For me it will be a tough match but I will fight.”
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Organizers website: here
Minsk 2019 results: here
