by Simon Daish
Seeded sixth for the Cadet Boys’ Singles event Simon Belik headed into the competition looking to secure a high placed finish, and what better way to state your intent for a successful campaign than with a comfortable victory in the opening round of the main draw.
Belgium’s Louis Laffineur provided the opposition in the Round of 32, but despite being placed six positions lower than Simon Belik on the seeding list the home player struggled to compete with his Czech opponent as Simon Belik cruised to a 3-0 win (11-9, 11-4, 11-7).
Simon Belik will be the sole Czech representative in the last 16 after fellow compatriot Dalibor Skopal suffered a disappointing 1-3 defeat at the hands of Spain’s Iker Gonzalez (7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11), however, there was cause for celebration for Dalibor Skopal over in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles category.
Forming an all-Czech partnership Dalibor Skopal and Simon Belik proved to be a powerful combination as the pair saw off Barry Berben and Jelle Moris of the Netherlands (11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8) to book a match with the host nation’s Boris Dobbelstein and Mattias Nacer in the quarter-finals.
There were just the two fixtures taking place in the last 32 of the Cadet Girls’ Singles, with the Round of 16 going ahead on the final day of the event.
Arguably the big upset of the stage came in the top half of the draw as Hungary’s Helga Dari eliminated the second seed Charlotte Bardsley of England across four games (14-12, 10-12, 12-10, 15-13), while the other encounter saw Russia’s Karina Iusupova come out on top against Thailand’s Monsawan Saritapirak (11-7, 11-8, 11-2).
Defeats for Charlotte Bardsley and Monsawan Saritapirak in the Cadet Girls’ Singles, but both players emerged successful in their respective Cadet Girls’ Doubles battles on Day Four.
England’s Charlotte Bardsley partnered India’s Vanshika Bhargava in a straight games triumph against Dutch opponents Dobrila Jorguseska and Emma van der Zanden (12-10, 11-1, 11-1), and top seeds Monsawan Saritapirak of Thailand and Amy Wang of the USA registered a similar scoreline against another Dutch pairing seeing off Anna Peters and Xijin Zheng (11-5, 11-4, 11-5).
