by Simon Daish
The Group B winners controlled the pace right from the start of their Round of 16 encounter, racing into a 2-0 lead thanks to Sabina Surjan and Tijana Jokic’s victories over Gaia Monfardini (11-8, 10-12, 11-4, 11-4) and Jamila Laurenti (11-7, 5-11, 11-4, 11-8). Serbia’s spot in the last eight was sealed by Andjela Menger, who recovered to see off Italy’s Valentina Roncallo across five games (11-3, 2-11, 15-17, 11-8, 11-8).
Awaiting the Serbian outfit in the next round is none other than Romania after the host nation accounted for the Czech Republic with little difficulty.
Andreea Dragoman handed the hosts the early momentum in the fixture, defeating Anezka Ilcikova in the match opener (10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 13-11) before subsequent victories from Tania Plaian and Andreea Hudusan over Zdena Blaskova (12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 14-12) and Gabriela Stepanova (12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 13-11) respectively brought the tie to a close.
Unable to secure a top two spot in the group stage of the tournament but Germany has successfully booked its place in the last eight. Showing great determination, Franziska Schreiner provided the highlight moment of the match: she recovered from two games down to beat Katarina Strazar (8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9) as Germany came away with a 3-0 win over Slovenia.
Russia remains on course to defend its title following a comfortable outing against Turkey – Azerbaijan, France, Poland and the Slovak Republic claimed the remaining last eight places.
