by Simon Daish
Victorious by a convincing 3-0 margin in the opening round of Group A but reigning champions Dr. Casl found life more difficult in its second meeting with SH-ITB Budaörsi 2i Sport Club as the Hungarian club put up a brave fight on home soil.
Szandra Pergel got the ball rolling for the hosts with a splendid display against Doo Hoi Kem (11-9, 12-10, 11-5) only for Dr. Casl to restore parity through Fu Yu, who needed just three games to beat Mercedesz Nagyvaradi (11-5, 13-11, 11-7). The home team moved ahead again with Petra Lovas beating Dorina Srebrnjak (11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 5-11, 11-5), however, victories for Fu Yu and Doo Hoi Kem over Szandra Pergel (11-5, 10-12, 11-2, 11-5) and Maria Fazekas (11-4, 13-15, 11-9, 4-11, 11-4) just about saw Dr. Casl over the line.
TTC Berlin Eastside endured a tough trip to UCAM Cartagena TM as the German champions required the full match distance to get the job done in Spain.
Despite trailing early in the match TTC Berlin Eastside edged close to victory thanks to Matilda Ekholm and Nina Mittelham’s positive outings against Silvia Erdelyi De Souza (11-5, 11-5, 11-8) and Victoria Lebedeva (11-7, 11-3, 11-5), but a second win for the UCAM Cartagena TM’s Maria Xiao forced a decider. In a closely contested affair Georgina Pota came out on top against Silvia Erdelyi De Souza (14-16, 11-9, 15-13, 11-9) to hand the visitors the 3-2 win.
Another major contender for the trophy KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg also experienced a big scare on its travels with the Polish side requiring a brace from Han Ying and a third success courtesy of Elizabeta Samara to see off LZ Linz Froschberg in a tight encounter which finished 3-2 in the away team’s favour.
The other Austrian side in action, Linz AG Froschberg chalked up its third successive victory in Group C with the line-up of Soo Wai Yam Minnie, Sofia Polcanova and Linda Bergström earning a 3-1 win away to Sporting Clube de Portugal.