In the final of the Men’s Doubles Event the Polish pairings seeded at position no. 2 Maciej KUBIK and Milosz REDZIMSKI will meet the no. 3 seeds Eduard IONESCU and Darius MOVILEANU of Romania. In the Women’s Doubles Romania will have representatives on both sides of the table: Bianca MEI ROSU and Elena ZAHARIA will face Luciana MITROFAN partnering with Sara TOKIC of Slovenia.
In the penultimate stage Maciej KUBIK and Milosz REDZIMSKI overcame Iulian CHIRITA and Andrei ISTRATE of Romania (3-11 7-11 5-11).
“The match was not as easy as it seemed. We had very good tactics. The most important things were the service and receive. We varied the receives a lot and we were prepared for a third ball. So yes we played really well and we are happy ” said REDZIMSKI. “The final will be a different game because of the left-hander on the opponent’s side but we will prepare a different tactic and just fight.”
KUBIK added “We will prepare the tactics and we will keep fighting like always. Having a left-hander as an adversary makes the doubles game different. For him it will be easier to receive and we have to adapt to that and come out with a tactic. At the moment I do not feel any pressure. We prepare together and communication during the match between teammates is very important. If we are both calm and talk during the game then we know that all goes well.”
In the other semifinal match IONESCU and MOVILEANU overcame no. 11 seeds Ivor BAN and Borna PETEK of Croatia (9-11 1-11 8-11) who created a top-rated upset earlier at the tournament by beating the top seeds Hugo DESCHAMPS and Thibault PORET of France.
“It was much more difficult than the results predicted especially playing against the left-hander BAN. However we set good tactics with our coach. We were able to open it first. With good tactics we made it easier ” explained IONESCU.
In the forthcoming final they will meet KUBIK and REDZIMSKI. “We never played against them but we do not have any doubts about the quality of all Polish players here. They are all very dangerous. For sure it will be a very good match ” said MOVILEANU.
The semifinal in the Women’s doubles highlighted the dominance of Romania’s pairings. Bianca MEI ROSU and Elena ZAHARIA teamed up for the first time but the no. 3 seeds showed superb game to overcome the top-seeded combination of Croatia’s Hana ARAPOVIC and Germany’s Sophia KLEE (11-9 11-4 6-11 11-5).
“Bianca was the backbone of this success. She carried us to the victory with really good tactics. We have never played before but it was not a problem here in Skopje because we have good communication at the table ” said ZAHARIA. “We faced difficulties only in the third game because we are much more comfortable when I receive Hana’s service and Bianca is playing on KLEE.”
Bianca MEI ROSU praised the atmosphere in the game. “Elena and I understand each other very well. It is great chemistry when we play together ” said Bianca following the end of the duel at the other table. “It is great that Luciana MITROFAN and Sara TOKIC won. That means three players of Romania’s C.S.M. Constanta will be in the final. It is going to be fun. We are looking forward to the match and the party afterward.”
Luciana MITROFAN and Sara TOKIC overcame the French pairings Leana HOCHART and Elise PUJOL (11-8 12-10 10-12 11-3). MITROFAN was very happy after the victory.
“My head is in shock and also my hand hurts a little bit but I can play and it is manageable. I hope I could manage the finals. I don’t want to think about the final at the moment. I have one more singles match today and I need to be focused on that. However we will play against my teammates and I will try to be as consistent as possible and play my best game.”
TOKIC: “We are from different countries and don’t work together but it was not hard for us to prepare for this. We play the finals tomorrow and we are very excited for it. We are very good in doubles and understand each other well. The communication between us is very good out of the court we are very good friends and the good understanding between us as I said is the key to the success. Today it was 2:0 and 10:6 for us we already thought we will win but it was not easy they were mentally in the game and didn’t give up until the end. So it became very difficult but we managed to win and in our minds we were stronger so that is the result.”
