by Ian Marshall, Editor
Having accounted for Italy’s Giorgia Piccolin, the highest rated player in the Women’s Singles qualification tournament one day earlier (11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8), Ozge Yilmaz concluded her initial phase matches with success against the Durita Jensen from the Faroe Islands (11-2, 11-1, 11-6, 11-2).
First place in the group for Ozge Yilmaz, alas for Giorgia Piccolin it was third position; in her concluding contest she was beaten by Oceane Guisnel of France (11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10). Oceane Guisnel finished in runners up spot and thus kept her hopes of a main draw place alive. Seven “Lucky Losers”, drawn at random from those finishing in second places in each of the 19 groups plus the remaining 12 players competing in a preliminary round, advance to the competition proper.
Likewise, Sara Ramirez concluded her group matches on a high note. After accounting for Charlotte Carey of Wales the previous day (13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 13-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8), the highest rated player in the group, she beat Scotland’s Rebecca Plaistow (11-1, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7) to secure pole position.
Success for Sara Ramirez; for Charlotte Carey, like Giorgia Piccolin it was disappointment, she was beaten in her concluding contest by Belgium’s Lisa Lung (7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8). Lisa Lung duly finished in runners up spot.
Impressive conclusions to initial phase matches for Giorgia Piccolin and Sara Ramirez; it was the same for Sweden’s Linda Bergström but for the 23 year old, the highest rated player in her group, it did not mean top spot.
She beat Romania’s Irina Ciobanu in her concluding contest in six games (8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4) but the previous day had lost the Croatia’s Ivana Malobabic in by a similar margin (13-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-7); earlier in her opening contest Irina Ciobanu had beaten Ivana Malobabic in five games (11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6).
Thus games ratio decided matters; it was first place for Irina Ciobanu (6:5) followed by Linda Bergström (6:6) and Ivana Malobabic (5:6).
Difficulties for three of the top eight names on initial phase duty; for the others there were no such difficulties. Ukraine’s Tetyana Bilenko, Austria’s Amelie Solja and the Czech Republic’s Dana Cechova all remained unbeaten to secure first places in their respective groups as did Romania’s Daniela Monteiro Dodean and England’s Tin-Tin Ho.
