Top 8 names entered the game at the second day of the play at the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa. In the Men’s Singles Event and the upsets commenced from the beginning of the day.
The list of favorites who faced defeats commenced with the very no. one seed Cristian PLETEA of Romania. In the opening match he beat Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia in full distance match but in the next round Cristian lost to Lev KATSMAN of Russia. Lev topping the Group A; he beat Artur GRELA in the opening round.
Next in line of favorites who lost one match today was the no. two seed Rares SIPOS of Romania. Last year’s runner up suffered by the hands of Matteo MUTTI of Italy in straight games. In the second match Sipos beat Vladislav URSU of Moldova.
โIt was never easy when we played against each other. I lost against MUTTI but I did not let it affect my later performance completely. Last year I lost the opening match and I reached the final afterwards. I never won the Group at the European Under 21 Championships so I was not worried to much but against URSU I was a little bit under stress before the start of the game. In case of the defeat I will be out I had to stay very cautiousโ explained RARES.
That Group provides more upsets. Host nation representative Adrien RASSENFOSSE emerged successfully at the top of the Group B by beating both URSU and MUTTI.
โI did not have good start of the tournament. I lost to Carlo ROSSI of Italy in the first stage. However I managed to continue quite well. I overcame Maciej KUBIK of Poland and Radim BAKO of Czech Republic. I got confidence and I am improving my game match by match. Against MUTTI I had some difficulties caused by his pimples game but it ended well. I am focused only to the next point โ explained RASSENFOSSE.
In Group C no three seed Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece Overcame both Maksim GREBNEV of Russia and Borgar HAUG of Norway.
โBorgar improved his game a lot since our last match. I did not feel much confident with his style at the beginning. I needed some time to get into my game. Against GREBNEV I started very goos and i had 3:0 lead but then he completely slowed the game. He slowed the ball…it destroyed my rhythm. I needed some time to recover โ explained SGOUROPOULOS.
Among top favorites Vladimir SIDORENKO suffered the hardest blow. He lost both his encounters today. Russia’s player lost to Irvin BERTRAND of France and Carlo ROSSI of Italy. Both players are unbeaten today.
โ I have not play against SIDORENKO for a quite long time and last time we met as juniors it was 3:2 and 11:9. Today I played at a very high level to beat him. Playing against Adam KLAJBER was difficult for other reason โ I did not know much about him. He is the new player at the โcircuitโ โ explained Irvin.
Bastien REMBERT of France Fanbo MENG of Germany and Cedric MEISSNER of Germany all justified their rankings. In Group F Leo DE NODREST upsets the odds and overcame Belgium’s Laurens DEVOS.
Top two players from the Group stage that finishes tomorrow will progress in the Round of 16.
