The semi-finals of the Extraliga Final Four have ended without a surprise on Sunday. Today in men’s category will play Celldömölk and Pécs while Budaörs and Erdért will be the finalists in women’s final.
In the László Ormai Table Tennis Hall in the opening semi final as it was expected the victory of Budaörs and Erdért could not be threatened either. The former met with Kecskemét which mostly trusted Aleksandra RADONJIC but the Serbian player did not win a set in doubles nor in singles. The game of honor was won by Anita DRABANT from Kecskemét who after a good start eventually lost the game to 3:1 against Petra LOVAS.
“Most of all I had to deal with myself I missed quite a bit because of the quarantine” Petra LOVAS assessed. “This could be seen on my game at the beginning but then I became more confident from set to set. I can be more satisfied with the game of my teammates they played more confidently.”
Szandra PERGEL contributed with two victories to Budaörs getting into the final but she also knows that Erdért promises to be a tougher task:
“It will be a very difficult match all three of them know us well and can play efficiently against us. However I am hope that we will win because I think we are a more united team and we will show that we really want this championship title.”
In the other semi-final Helga DARI beat Leila IMRE but still Erdért won the match confidently. Among the young players of Statisztika the newcomer Kendra MOLNÁR also got a role true to the promise who like her peers did well.
“This was not an easy match each of the girls from Statisztika played very well” praised Tímea VARGA their opponents. “We tried to observe what their weak points could be and overcome them and thank God we could do it. We hope the final will be tight but they are more experienced there are no high expectations. I think if there will be nice and exciting rallies and points and spectators will see nice matches that is a success already.”
As it could have been expected the first day of the Final Four brought more excitement in the men’s semi-finals. The players of Celldömölk saw it clearly that they will have to focus on János JAKAB of Szerva ASE from Szécsény despite this the former player and current coach of BVSC still managed to win two singles against them. In vain as his teammates could not achieve a bravura. However they would have had something to earn as Zoltán Bátorfi defeated from match ball from Péter FAZEKAS and János NÉMETH also lost the first game from 10:4 against Fazekas. So Szécsény really needed the doubles.
“We have been working hard the whole week even yesterday and today. So we really tried to prepare for this match but both of our opponents had an difficult game to which we could not answer effectively enough. I am referring to the backhand drive to this modern element of the game which they used very well and thanks to this we lost the doubles quite easily which was a great devastation” told János JAKAB whose second win against Dániel KRISTON is not part of the official result as it was listed as the sixth game as the Fazekas vs. Bátorfi clash was listed fifth while it ended later.
“Thanks to this we only got even more focused on tomorrow” pointed Péter FAZEKAS that he speaking about himself does not mind the tight fights. “After such a long time without tournaments these three good matches got me only started it was a great pre-game before the final.”
…Which will be against Pécs who also won by 4:1. This result also suggests a more easily won game than it was as Mezőberény lost three times in the final game.
“I have to congratulate Mezőberény – started the evaluation Zsolt PETŐ the Serbian player of team PEAC who is competing in his first Final Four in Hungary. “We knew that the semi-final will be though as our opponent had nothing to lose we have been preparing for that. I think that it is even good that it turned out this way it could have a more positive impact on our team than if we had won smoothly.”
Today from 11 am the women’s and from 15 pm the men’s placemant matches will take place. The spectators still cannot attend the event as the matches are played behind closed doors – a team can be represented by 20 people as a maximum un the hall – but M4 Sport will broadcast live the finals.
EXTRALIGA FINAL FOUR
WOMEN SEMI-FINALS
SH-ITB Budaörs 2i SC–Kecskeméti Spartacus Sportkör és Közösségi Tér 4:0
Mária Fazekas Szandra Pergel–Kata Füle Alekszandra Radonjics 3:0 (8 3 7)
Pergel–Füle 3:0 (2 9 10)
Szabina Surján–Radonjics 3:0 (10 6 9)
Petra Lovas–Anita Drabant 3:1 (–4 7 7 2)
Budapesti Erdért SE–Statisztika PSC I. 4:1
Leila Imre Tímea Varga–Helga Dari Anna Fejős 3:0 (4 7 11)
Varga–Kendra Molnár 3:0 (8 9 7)
Imre–Dari 2:3 (–6 8 5 –7 –9)
Krisztina Ambrus–Fejős 3:0 (7 5 9)
Varga–Dari 3:0 (9 10 8)
MEN SEMI-FINALS
PTE PEAC Kalo-Méh I.–HED-LAND Sportcsarnok SE Mezőberény 4:1
Lehel Demeter Zsolt Pető–Krisztián Szabó Viktor Vajda 3:2 (9 10 –4 –7 10)
Demeter–Péter Sebestyén 0:3 (–9 –9 –3)
Pető–Szabó 3:0 (8 5 10)
Gábor Gerold–Vajda 3:2 (6 15 –9 –9 5)
Pető–Sebestyén 3:2 (8 –9 –11 5 9)
CVSE Swietelsky Jufa Hotels I.–Szerva ASE Szécsény I. 4:1
Péter Fazekas Márton Szita–Péter Ingemar János Jakab 3:0 (9 6 8)
Szita–Bátorfi Zoltán 3:0 (10 8 8)
Fazekas–János Németh 3:1 (10 –10 11 10)
Dániel Kriston–Jakab 0:3 (–10 –6 –6)
Fazekas–Bátorfi 3:2 (–11 8 –10 10 11)
