by Simon Daish
Lee Ho Ching and Hu Melek were both tested in the opening stages of the match as Aurore Le Mansec (5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7) and Cheng Hsien-Tzu (11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6) pushed the Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor duo to the full match distance.
The tie was then brought to a close by Yana Noskova, who saw off Audrey Zarif in four games (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4) to seal the 3-0 victory.
KTS Tarnobrzeg emerged successful by a 3-1 scoreline on its travels to Austria in the 1st leg of the quarter-finals action and the Polish side achieved the same outcome in the return match as Linz AG Froschberg’s campaign drew to a conclusion.
Mo Zhang handed Linz an early advantage in the 2nd leg following an outstanding display against Elizabeta Samara (5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8) but the lead was soon cancelled out with Tarnobrzeg’s Li Qian proving too strong for Sofia Polcanova on this occasion (11-5, 12-10, 11-9).
The momentum then shifted completely in Tarnobrzeg’s favour as Viktoria Pavlovich accounted for Linda Bergström in straight games (13-11, 11-9, 11-9) before Elizabeta Samara made up for her opening loss, defeating Sofia Polcanova (11-6, 13-11, 11-7) to send the top seeds through to the last four.
Croatia’s Dr. Casl will feature in the penultimate stage of the competition, thanks in part to a class performance from Fu Yu.
The Portuguese star overcame challenges from Agnes Le Lannic (11-7, 11-8, 11-6) and Tamolwan Khetkhuan (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6) in the opening and closing fixtures of the match while there was also a winning display from Zhou Xintong, who also came out on top against Khetkhuan (11-7, 11-8, 11-5).
Szekszard AC put up a brave fight in its 2nd leg tie away to TTC Berlin Eastside, but the Hungarian club’s hard effort wasn’t enough to keep its dreams of reaching the semi-finals alive with the 3-0 defeat suffered in the 1st leg ultimately proving costly.
Polina Mikhailova and Dora Madarasz fired Szekszard to a fantastic start with excellent results against Georgina Pota (7-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6) and Shiho Matsudaira (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4), but a victory for Berlin’s Shan Xiaona over Ruta Paskauskiene (11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6) put the outcome beyond any doubt as the German outfit progressed.
European Champions League: Results and Fixtures