Romania’s Camelia Postoaca (Foto de Jordi Pardinilla) and Poland’s Adrianna Szulc were the players to reap the most benefit from the absence of the top two seeded Germans, Amelie Solja and Rosalia Stähr, in the Girls’ Singles event at the Joola German Youth Open in Selingstadt on Monday 7th January 2008.

Required to play only one match in the group stage, Camelia Postoaca beat Ala Shakun of Belarus to assume the position at the top of the draw in the knock-out stage and a second round place, whilst at the opposite end of matters, Adrianna Szulc did likewise.

She defeated Nastassia Hulevich, also of Belarus, to reserve her place in the last sixteen.


Seventh Seed Defeated
No place in the main draw for the top two seeds through illness and no place for the number seven seed, Lorine Brunet of France.

Only one defeat but that cost her dear. In the group stage, where matches are best of five games, Lorine Brunet beat Slovakia’s Denisa Mala in four games but lost in straight games to the Czech Republic’s Kristyna Ondriskova. The latter then lost in five games to to Denisa Mala; all three beat Vasilike Rapanta and thus it was calculator time.

Verdict
The verdict on games ratio went in favour of Kristyna Ondriskova with Denisa Mala second and Lorine Brunet the unfortunate player to miss out on further progress; the top two players from each group progressing to the knock-out rounds.

Kristyna Ondriskova duly advanced to round two overcoming Nastassia Hulevich of Belarus in round one but for Denisa Mala there was no further progress. In the opening round she was beaten by Germany’s Meike Gattermeyer.

Problems for Third Seed
Problems for Lorine Brunet and there were problems for the number three seed, Romania’s Cristina Hirici.

She lost to Germany’s Ann-Kathrin Herges in her opening group match before beating Poland’s Magdalena Szczerkowska and Slovakia’s Benedika Butorova to secure second place in the group and a place in round one.

Ann-Kathrin Herges finished the group unbeaten and reserved herself a place in round two, whilst for Cristina Hirici a first round duel was necessary. She duly responded to the challenge overcoming Germany’s Kathrin Mulbach in five games.

Places Booked
However, for the other highly seeded pairings there were relatively few problems in the group stage and places in the last sixteen of the main draw were duly booked.

There was a safe passage for Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova who progressed directly to the last sixteen, whilst fifth seed Slovakia’s Sona Hudecova, sixth seed France’s Aurore Dessaint and eighth seed Switzerland’s Monika Fuhrer all negotiated the first round successfully.

Sona Hudecova defeated Sweden’s Ida Soderlund, Aurore Dessaint overcame Lithuania’s Iveta Venslaviciute and Monika Fuhrer ended the hopes of Ala Shakun of Belarus.

Romanian Successes
Meanwhile in the Girls’ Doubles event Romania’s Camelia Postoaca and Andrada Vincze took advantage of the absence Amelie Solja and Rosalia Stähr to book a quarter-final place having overcome eighth seeds, Lithuania’s Egle Stuckyte and Ieva Venslaviciute in round one.

Success for one Romanian partnership and there was success for a second.

Fourth seeds Cristina Hirici and Anamaria Sebe booked their quarter-final place with a second round win over Poland’s Beata Adamaszek and Magdalena Mazur.

Trouble Free
A safe passage for the number four seeds and also there was a trouble free experience for the sixth and seventh seeded pairs.

Hungary’s Alexa Szvitacs and Zsuzsanna Vegh duly booked their quarter-final place as did Slovakia’s Andrea Daubernova and Simona Lazarcikova but for the third and fifth seeds it was defeat.

Seeds Fall
Third seeds, Lorine Brunet and Aurore Dessaint of France lost in round two, being beaten by the Romanians, Andrea and Michaela Dospina whilst at the same stage Andrea Daubernova and Simona Lazarcikova suffered at the hands of Germany’s Kathrin Mulbach and Sabine Winter.

The one remaining pair through to the quarter-finals is that of the Czech Republic’s Hana Matelova and Aneta Kurecova; in round two they defeated Slovakia’s Denisa Mala and Benedika Butorova

Articol publicat de Ian Marshall (ITTF Publications Editor) pe site-ul Federatiei Internationale de Tenis de Masa, www.ittf.com