In tomorrow’s semi final of the Mixed Doubles event at the European Championships in Munich Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria will meet Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania whilst in other semi final Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan of France will play against Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia
In the quarterfinal Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA overcame Simon GAUZY and Prithika PAVADE of France 3:1 to be the first doubles to win the medal in Munich.
Sofia POLCANOVA:”We prepared well for this tournament and we practiced a lot. I got some very good advices from ‘Robbie’ and I did mostly everything the way he told me to play. In the end I am happy that I could put very good balls on the table and that I also played my level.”
On eliminating defending champions Dang QIU and Nina MITTELHAM as well as last year’s European championship bronze medallists Simon GAUZY and Prithika PAVADE on their way to the semifinals:
“With this draw this victory is even sweeter. This draw was not easy. We beat the ex European champions and now these who were bronze medallists last year so we played really good today.”
Robert Gardos: “It has been a very long day for an old man. It was even longer than for the young girl. But we are very happy. We knew this day would be very hard and we would have to fight. We have prepared I think we practiced quite good all these months and we are lucky that this day was for us.”
On playing with Polcanova: “This is our first big tournament. We have just played two pro tours – these WTT tournaments – so we didn’t know which level we are at. For us it means quite a lot in such a big tournament with such a difficult draw to be in the semifinal. We will se how long we can go but if not we are happy about the bronze.”
Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS prevailed against young pairings from Poland Samuel KULCZYCKI and Katarzyna WEGRZYN 3:1.
“Quarterfinals are always tough but we are very happy to reach another medal. The last two editions of the European championships were not as good as we hoped. We wanted very much to be in the semifinals and to fight for the gold medal so we are very happy ” said IONESCU.
I both occasions their progress were halted by the German players who later become champions.
“I know that we are capable of winning the gold medal and to fight for the podium. It was painful but we learn from these defeats and we are here in the semifinals.”
On their preparations for the mixed doubles tournament IONESCU stated:
“Mixed doubles is an Olympic event so we take it very seriously. Every time we have training camps we practise a lot together and try to work on our weak points and study a lot with our coaches. We invest a lot of time in mixed doubles. I think it’s one of the ways to get a medal the easiest but there are 16 couples in the Olympics. We have to try because Bernadette Szocs is one of the best in Europe and I am very glad that she’s my mixed partner. The coming gold is an Olympic medal so we will give everything for this.”
Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan justified their rankings by beating Nándor ECSEKI Dóra MADARÁSZ of Hungary.
“We knew from the beginning that it would be a really tough match against this Hungarian pair because these are two really good doubles players. We played against them one time in Tunisia one year ago and it was also a really close game. We won 3-1 but it was really close and it was about the same match today.We played really good doubles and had several tests today against this pair. They played really good today and we must play our best level to catch this game ” said LEBESSON.
Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA prevailed against Álvaro ROBLES and María XIAO of Spain.
Title holders in Mixed Doubles Event Dang QIU and Nina MITTELHAM were halted in the Round of 16 after superb performance of Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria.
Previously German pairings broke the ice in Munich by beating Truls MOREGARDH and Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden.
“The first match at every tournament is very difficult. Especially if you play against Truls MOREGARDH both of them are playing really well very dangerous. We don’t need to say a lot about Truls everyone knows who he is. So it was very tough for us to get a good rhythm in the start so we are very happy that we managed to win ” said QIU.
Nina added: “Last time at the 2020 European Championships I think in the second round we were down 0-2 and came back and we won so maybe it is a sign that the first match wasn’t the easiest one and it only can get better.”
LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan beat Konstantinos KONSTANTINOPOULOS and Elisavet TERPOU of Greece in the Round of 32 before they halted the progress of Daniel HABESOH of Austria and Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania.
In the Round of 16 Last year’s runner’s up Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia prevailed against Germany’s Benedikt DUDA and Sabine WINTER.
Simon GAUZY and Prithika PAVADE reached the quarterfinal without losing the game. In the opening match of the day they overcame Filip ZELJKO and Matea JEGER of Croatia and in Round of 16 French pairings prevailed against WANG Yang and Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia.
“We won three opening game against Slovaks 11:1 so we took the control over the match in very early stage. We kept the pressure on ” said GAUZY.
