by Simon Daish
Wong Chun Ting set the wheels in motion for the hosts of the 2nd leg fixture, defeating Alexandre Robinot in straight games (11-9, 11-6, 11-3) before an eye-catching victory over Robert Gardos courtesy of Wang Yang (11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8) doubled K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo’s advantage.
The visitors did manage a response through Par Gerell, who proved too strong for Pawel Fertikowski (12-10, 11-3, 11-8) but it was little more than a consolation win for the French team as Jiri Vrablik contributed a clean sweep success against Romain Lorentz (11-3, 11-5, 11-8).
Poland had been represented in the final on two previous occasions with Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk and Olimpia Unia Grudziadz claiming the runner up prizes in the 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 finals respectively but this is the first time a team from the country has come away with the trophy.
Following a narrow contest in the opening leg of the Women’s ETTU Cup final, the return match was decided in a more straightforward fashion with Metz TT inflicting a 3-0 defeat upon Girbau-Vic TT.
Last time out Ni Xialian put in a standout performance for Spanish side Girbau-Vic TT but she was the first to experience defeat in the 2nd leg, losing out to Liu Xin by the closest of margins (9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9).
Then it was the turn of Carole Grundisch to put a win on the board for the home team, seeing off Wang Ting Ting across four games (11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6) prior to Yunli Schreiner’s victory over Ana Garcia (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7) as Metz TT sealed their spot at the summit of the podium.