by Simon Daish

Reigning champion Germany recorded a clean sheet win in its quarter-finals encounter, as Poland was dealt a crushing defeat by the top seeds.

Han Ying continues to lead by example for the German team as the World No.9 player gave her side the early advantage with a strong display against Li Qian in the opener (11-7, 13-15, 11-6, 11-8).

Another victory came soon after for Germany with Shan Xiaona prevailing over Katarzyna Grzybowska-Franc in the second fixture of the match (11-4, 11-4, 11-6) to leave the defending title holders just one win away from the last four.

Despite conceding the opening game of the third encounter Nina Mittelham went on to defeat Poland’s Natalia Partyka across four games (9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-6), bringing the tie to a conclusion.

“We know that Poland is a strong team, which is hard to beat. I was very satisfied with my performance and the whole team’s match today. Tomorrow I should be able to improve my level, but I won’t tell you how. The semi-finals is a different game, we have to be at our best if we want to win. Especially, because the Dutch women are playing an excellent tournament so far. We have to be well prepared”, Han Ying.

Romania also remains in the hunt for the title after picking up a superb 3-0 win against Portugal.

Daniela Monteiro Dodean gave her team a major boost at the start of the match, claiming an important victory against the Portuguese competitor Yu Fu (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9) and Romania’s lead was then doubled by Elizabeta Samara, who edged to a deciding game triumph over Shao Jieni in a thrilling encounter (6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-13, 11-9).

The result was put beyond any doubt when Bernadette Szocs powered to a straight games win against Leila Oliveira (11-2, 11-4, 11-7) to seal Romania’s spot in the penultimate round.