by Simon Daish
Nerves of Steel
The Czech Republic’s Karin Adamkova and her partner Aneta Kucerova were involved in a tight match with Polish opponents Julia Slazak and Agata Zakrzewska, which very nearly witnessed a great comeback from the Polish players.
Adamkova and Kucerova edged the opening two games to put themselves in a strong position to take the win, but Slazak and Zakrzewska had other ideas as the duo from Poland fought back to level the scores at two games apiece.
Everything came down to game five in a ‘winner takes all’ situation, and it was the Czech combination of Adamkova and Kucerova who came out with the victory (12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8).
Rest of the Field
The other tie that went to the final game featured another win for the Czech Republic, as Tamara Tomanova and Katerina Tomanovska overcame Romania’s Andreea Clapa and Adina Diaconu (5-11, 11-8, 15-13, 12-14, 11-8) to book their spot in the next round.
Renata Strbikova and Lenka Harabaszova (both Czech Republic) performed in sync to breeze past Jennifer Jonsson (Sweden) and Celine Reust (Switzerland) winning three straight, but there were however defeats for two Czech partnerships.
Karolina Mynarova and Kristyna Stefkova lost out to Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom and Daniela Moskovits, while the other exit came from Barbora Kapounova and Kristyna Mikulcova after their defeat to Lin Chia-Hsuan and Lin Po-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei.
Elsewhere in the first qualifying round, the Hungarian duet of Bernadett Balint and Mercedes Nagyvaradi beat Serbia’s Anelia Lupulesku and Izabela Lupulesku 3-0, with Chantal Mantz and Wan Yuan of Germany also advancing by the same scoreline following their win over Elena Troshneva and Mariia Vinogradova of Russia.
One Round Remaining
16 doubles pairings from the qualifiers will go face-to-face on day two of the Czech Open, knowing just a single victory will put them through to the last 16 of the main draw.
Combinations joining in the second preliminary round include: Gui Lin (Brazil) and Zhang Mo (Canada), Adriana Diaz and Melanie Diaz (both Puerto Rico) and India’s Manika Batra and Mouma Das.
There will also be an all Asian encounter as Korea Republic’s Jung Yumi and Park Seri take on Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia-Hsuan and Lin Po-Hsuan.
Latest Results
Wednesday 31st August: Women’s Doubles – Preliminary Rounds
