by Ian Marshall, Editor
Major casualties
Three of the top eight names on men’s singles opening day duty completed their group stage matches without a win against their names; for Austria’s David Serdaroglu, Spain’s Carlos Franco and Chile’s Felipe Olivares there is no place in the main draw.
Equally amongst the prominent names there were problems for Alexander Chen, also from Austria. In his opening match he beat the Czech Republic’s Radek Skala (11-1, 11-8, 11-9, 1-11), before losing to Poland’s Konrad Kulpa (11-6, 8-11, 15-13, 11-6); his destiny is out of his hands, Konrad Kulpa faces Radek Skala in the concluding group stage contests.
Players finishing in first places in each of the 21 groups advance to the main draw; runners up compete in a qualification round.
A good day for Germany
Six players concluded their group phase men’s singles matches unbeaten, notably five being German.
Meng Fanbo, Nils Hohmeier, Dennis Klein and Cedric Meissner all reserved first places as did Croatia’s Filip Seljko.
Notably competing in groups where there were four players, Russia’s Viacheslav Burov, alongside the Greek duo of Konstantinos Angelakis and Georgios Stamatouros ended the day unbeaten, as did Poland’s Li Yongyin and Samuel Kulczycki.
Problems for leading ladies
Belgium’s Margo Degraef, the leading name on qualification duty, after beating Slovakia’s Monika Urikova (7-11, 14-12, 11-5, 11-3), experienced defeat at the hands of the host nation’s Paulina Krzysiek (8-11, 11-2, 12-10, 7-11, 13-11).
Likewise, amongst the prominent names it was one win and one defeat for Marie Migot of France, Argentina’s Candela Molero, Denmark’a Stefanie Christensen and Ecuador’s Nathaly Paredes.
Progress is on a knife-edge; first place in the group guarantees progress to the main draw. For the runners up they contend the four “lucky loser” places. Alas for the third highest listed on first phase duty, Italy’s Chiara Colantoni, she ended the day without a win to her name, thus journey’s end.
Already into the main draw…
The Czech Republic’s Aneta Siruckova, Russia’s Ekaterina Chernyavskaya and Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn have completed their group stage matches and are through to the main draw.
Both Japan’s Chiaki Kato and the Czech Republic’s Katerina Tomanovska ended the day unbeaten; it was one match played, one match won.
However, there were nervous moments. Chiaki Kato beat Chiara Colantoni (11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10); in an even closer duel Ekaterina Chernyavskaya overcame Poland’s Julia Tomecka (8-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7, 19-17).
U21 star trio exit early
The leading names in the under 21 men’s singles event all experienced defeats; Uladzislau Rukliatsou of Belarus, he was beaten in his opening match by Denmark’s Thor Christensen (11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4) before recovering to overcome Romania’s Cristian Chirita (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8). Somewhat differently for the next in line, the Czech Republic’s Radim Bako and Poland’s Jan Zandecki it was defeat on both visits to the table; thus elimination.
Meanwhile, in the under 21 women’s singles event there was success for Slovakia’s Natalia Grigelova and Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn but for the third highest on initial phase duty it was defeat. Lucie Gauthier of France lost to Japan’s Sakura Yokoi (11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4).
In the under 21 men’s singles, first and second place in each group advances to the main draw; in the under 21 women’s singles, the three players who finish in group first place plus one “lucky loser” draw the runners up, qualifies.
