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TODAY in Amsterdam -
Thu 1st, Day TWO |
Germany gatecrash the semis
Day two saw the completion of the pool stages, with most of the
expected teams making the semi-finals. The big exception was
Germany, whose 2-2 draw with fourth seeds Wales - thanks to Simon
Roesner's marathon win over Alex Gough - was enough to put them into
the top four for the first time since 1996.
Germany are joined by champions England, hosts Holland and
seven-time finalists France.
In the women's event 30-times winners England cruised through and
will face France in the last four. The hosts will be there too,
where they will face a resurgent Irish team.
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Men |
Women |
10.00 D Wal 2-2 Ger
D Fin 2-2
Ita
E Iom 1-3 Por
F Rus 1-3 Srb
12.00 C Fra 4-0 Irl
C Esp 3-1 Aut
G Gib 0-4 Slo
H Lat 1-3 Lux
15.00 F Cze 4-0 Rus
16.00 E Isr 4-0 Iom
17.00 A Eng 4-0 Sco
B Ned 4-0 Swe
B Swi 4-0 Hun
19.00 A Den 2-2 Bel
G Svk 4-0 Gib
H Ukr 3-1 Lat
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10.00 D Aut 3-0 Rus
D Ita 3-0 Ukr
13.00 C Wal 3-0 Fin
14.00 A Eng 3-0 Ger
A Irl 2-0 Esp
D Rus 3-0 Ukr
D Ita 2-1 Aut
E Cze 2-1 Swe
E Bel 3-0 Gre
19.00 B Ned 3-0 Den
B Swi 0-3 Fra
E Bel 2-1 Cze
E Swe 3-0 Gre
Full Results Listing |
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Full results & playoff draws |
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Day TWO GALLERY
Who says it's only a game |
Crunch day for some
The playoff stages conclude today, with a few crunch matches coming
up as the play-off draws are decided.
With just the top teams in pools A to D going through to the
semi-finals, it's win or bust for the men.
You'd expect England to beat Scotland in pool A, and France to come
through against Ireland in group C. Hosts Netherlands can be less
sure about qualification as they face Sweden, but the real crunch
match comes in pool D with fourth-seeded Wales meeting Germany, the
fifth seeds.
In the women's event it's the top two of pools A and B who go
through to the semis, and it's already looking like England v France
and Netherlands v Ireland, barring any upsets today.
Meanwhile, teams will be jostling for favourable playoff positions,
some just aiming to keep their places in the "premier divisions",
others aiming for promotion next year.
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Men's
A: England 4-0 Scotland
James Willstrop 3-0 Alan Clyne
9/5, 9/3, 9/0
Peter Barker 3-0 Stuart Crawford
9/3, 9/1, 9/2
Lee Beachill 3-0 Alistair Gorrie
9/1, 9/3, 9/0
Joey Barrington 3-0 Lyall Patterson
9/1, 9/2, 9/2
Men's
B: Netherlands 4-0 Sweden
LJ Anjema 3-0 Badr Abdel Aziz
9/2, 9/1, 9/1
Rene Mijs 1-2 Anders Thoren
7/9, 9/7, 2/9, 9/4, 9/0
Tom Hoevenaars 3-0 Rasmus Hult
9/5, 9/2, 9/5
Dylan Bennett 3-2 Christian Drakenberg 3/9, 3/9, 9/4, 9/4, 9/4
Top two through
Top seeds England and Netherlands claimed their expected semi-final
places as they made it three wins out of three in their respective
pools.
England - who rested Adrian Grant after his pair of 27-0 wins -
eased past Scotland without dropping a game, tt was a little harder
for the Dutch though. LJ Anjema and Tom Hoevenaars put the hosts 2-0
up easily enough, but Rene Mijs and Dylan Bennett had to fight back
from 1-2 and 0-2 down respectively.
Bennett's encounter with Christian Drakenberg lasted 77 minutes,
and five-and-a-half of those passed before the first point was
scored!
 "It's
so warm on that court! I was ok until 3-all in the first two games,
but after that I never got a good dropshot or boast in, I just kept
tinning it.
"From halfway through the third I found a better rhythm, I was
taking less risks, and then it started paying off as my shots
started going in.
"It was just down to patience in the end ..."
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Men's D:
[4] Wales 2-2 [5] Germany
Alex Gough 2-3 Simon Rosner
5/9, 8/10, 9/6, 9/2, 2/9
Jethro Binns 1-3 Stefan Leifels
9/7, 4/9, 1/9, 7/9
David Evans 3-0 Tim Weber
9/5, 9/1, 9/1
Rob Sutherland 3-0 Patrick Gaessler
9/7, 9/6, 9/3
Rosner rocks Wales
The first match on the showcourt was a real marathon, as Germany's
Simon Rosner overcame Alex Gough in 97 minutes to end Wales'
semi-final hopes.
Gough, who lost both of his matches yesterday, fell two behind but
called upon his vast well of experience to draw level. But he ran
out of gas in the fifth as the former European Junior Champion put
his side two up, Stefan Leifels having already beaten Jetho Binns on
the outside courts.
With Germany only dropping one tie in yesterday's matches compared
to Wales' two, even wins from Evans and Sutherland wasn't enough to
overhaul the Germans, who reach the semis for the first time since
1996.
 "I
was half asleep in the first two games and was really negative. I
thought I'd got him after the fourth - he seemed really tired But
all credit to him for coming back in the fifth."
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 "That's
a big win for me. I've played Alex twice before and only taken one
game off him, so to beat a player of his stature and experience in
this event is just great.
"In the third he was just better than me - I made a couple of
mistakes in the middle of the game and that gave him the impetus to
in it. When he went 6/1 up in the fourth I let it go to concentrate
on the fifth."
"I'm happy to win for myself, but more for the team to give us a
chance to make the semi-finals for the first time in a long time
..."
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Men's C: France 4-0
Ireland
Gregory Gaultier 3-1 Liam Kenny
4/9, 9/1, 9/0, 9/6
Julien Balbo 3-0 Niall Rooney
9/1, 9/0, 9/4
Renan Lavigne 3-0 Arthur Gaskin
9/1, 9/5, 9/0
Mathieu Castagnet 3-0 Steve Richardson
9/2, 9/0, 9/4
France ease into semis
Swapping Gregory Gaultier for Thierry Lincou at the top, France duly
progressed to the semi-finals with a comfortable win over Ireland.
Playing his first match since pulling up injured in the semi-finals
in Kuwait, Gaultier started slowly, dropping the first game against
Liam Kenny, but soon found his shots to run out a 3/1 winner. |
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Men's
D: [12] Finland 2 [13] Italy 2
 "In
the end it's a good job I won both my matches yesterday, otherwise
we wouldn't have finished third.
"So now we're in the 5/12 playoffs, hoping to improve our position
for next year."
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Men's F: Serbia beat Russia 3-1 |
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Men's H:
Luxembourg 3-1 Latvia
Lëtzebuerg
do it again
 Bottom
seeds Luxemboug - appearing in the competition after an 11-year
absence, scored their second consecutive victory a the defeated
Latvia 3-1.
Leading 2-1, it was left to Daniel Hutchines (who apparently plays
much better when there's a photographer as courtside!) to wrap up
the victory, winning 10/8, 9/2, 9/2.
 "We
thought we might ha a chance of progressing from this group, but we
didn't know the other teams so had no real idea. As it turned out
they're no mugs, so to come away with two 3/1 wins is a fantastic
result for us.
"It will be tough in the next round, the 13-20 playoffs, but if we
can sneak a win in the 17-20 shakeout that will still be a great
achievement for us.
"We're a bit of a mixed bunch - our coach and number one is a Kiwi,
we have two Englishmen born in Luxembourg, a French and a Dutch but
we've got a great team spirit"
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Day Two Highlights -
Women |
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Women's B:
France 3-0 Switzerland Netherlands 3-0 Denmark
Dutch & French clinch
semi-final places
The women's semi-final lineups were completed as France and hosts
Holland topped group B with straightforward wins over Switzerland
and Denmark.
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Women's A: Ireland
3-0 Spain, England 3-0 Germany
Irish march into semis
Ireland's women beat comfortable beat Spain to secure their spot in
the semi-finals, almost certainly against hosts Holland.
England continued their winning ways, with Vicky Botwright erasing
memories of yesterday's defeat
 "The
girls have all played well so far, and we must have a chance against
Holland in he semis - Madeline's playing really well, and Aisling
trains with Annelize here so knows the courts and her opponent's
game well."
Irish women's team manager
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Women's D:
Italy 3-0 Ukraine (81-0)
 It's
their first time in the European Teams - "and it's the first
competition I've ever played in," said one of the Ukraine players..
They didn't make much impression on Italy, who were resting their
number one, but all three girls enjoyed their matches, and are
looking forward to getting a few points come the playoffs ...
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Women's D: Italy 2-1 Austria
Sonia Pasteris 2-3 Pamela Pancis 9/7, 9/6, 0/9, 6/9,
7/9
Manuela Manetta 3-0 Birgit Coufal
9/2, 9/2, 9/7
Veronica Favero 3-0 Theresa Gradnitzer
9/2, 9/3, 9/3
Another five for Pamela
One of the veterans of the championships appearing for a 19th time,
Pamela Pancis pulled out a tremendous comeback to put Austria into
the lead against Italy. She needed some running repairs after the
match on a blister on her racket hand .... ouch!
Last laugh was with the Italians though, as Manuela Manetta and
Veronica Favero came through to seal the win.
 "My
first appearance was in 1989 in Helsinki and I've only missed one
since.
"I've had a lot of five-setters in that time - one year every match
went to five, and after the last one someone just touched me and I
fell over!"
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