by Simon Daish
Entering the tournament occupying 30th position on the seeding list Marharyta Baltushite can feel proud of her efforts in the Junior Girls’ Singles category, especially after eliminating the 13th seed Stina Källberg in the last 32 (15-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8).
Victory over the Swedish player has rewarded Marharyta Baltushite with a tricky fixture against the top seed Adina Diaconu, while the other Belarusian representative involved in Round of 32 action Daria Trigolos defeated Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, 11-7) to book a meeting with Kristina Kazantseva of Russia.
Last year’s Junior Girls’ Singles runner up Ning Jing is on track to reach the latter stages of the 2017 competition, as two of the Azerbaijan contingent successfully moved through to the top 16.
Four games was all that was required to see third seed Ning Jing triumph over Ukraine’s Veronika Perebeynos (11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9), and Chen Xingtai will face the fourth seeded contestant Andreea Dragoman on day nine following a confident display against French opponent Nolwenn Fort (10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8).
Belgium’s Lisa Lung was given an early scare as the number five seed was forced to make a comeback in her encounter with Russian competitor Anna Krasikova (4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8).
Defeat for Anna Krasikova but for her compatriot Anastasia Kolish there was joy, as she saw off Julia Slazak of Poland (12-10, 11-5, 13-11, 11-13, 6-11, 11-5) to progress beyond the Round of 32.
“The opening game was very close. I made a lot of mistakes because of a lack of focus, that is why I lost it. After that I was much determined. My tactics were to serve short and to attack to the middle when the opportunity arrived. Most of the time it was successful”, Anastasia Kolish.
Daria Trigolos may have enjoyed a strong showing in the Junior Girls’ Singles action on day eight, but she has been knocked out of the Junior Girls’ Doubles event after she and her partner Nadezhda Bogdanova were stunned by Bulgaria’s Maria Yovkova and Hungary’s Fanni Harasztovich (15-17, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 6-11) to leave Belarus without a pairing for the remainder of the competition.
There was disappointment for the 16th seeds of the Junior Girls’ Doubles tournament, as the team of Germany’s Lotta Rose and the Czech Republic’s Katerina Cechova let a two games lead slip before eventually losing out to Nikoleta Puchovanova of the Slovak Republic and Finnish player Annika Lundstrom in dramatic style (11-5, 13-11, 13-15, 9-11, 11-13).
Stag 2017 European Youth Championships: Results – Friday 21st July
