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TODAY in Malmo ... Daily Updates |
Fri 1st, Day FOUR:
After three days of
qualifying pools - a success for the seeding committee with just
three out of twelve pools finishing different from seeding - we
were down to the playoff stages.
No more holding back, lose today and you're slipping down the
order. Each of the countries have different targets, but there
was no shortage of effort and excitement, that's for sure.
Yes, it will be another England v France men's final, and
another England v Netherlands women's final, but a lot
more than that happened today ...
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Schedule & Results
full results &
playoff schedules
Photo Galleries
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 Women's
Semi-Finals:
England 3-0 France
Alison Waters 3-0 Camille
Serme
11/3, 11/8, 11/4 (24m)
Jenny Duncalf 3-0 Isabelle Stoehr 11/6, 11/6, 11/6 (32m)
Laura Lengthorn-Massaro 2-0 Célia Allamargot
11/5, 11/5 (12m)
Netherlands 2-1 Ireland
Vanessa Atkinson 0-3 Aisling Blake
10/12, 6/11, 10/12
Natalie Grinham 3-1 Madeline Perry
8/11, 11/5, 11/7, 11/5
Annelize Naude 3-0 Zoe Barr
11/4, 11/6, 11/6
Men's Semis:
France
4-0 Wales
 Greg Gaultier
3-0 Rob Sutherland
11/5, 11/1, 11/7 (25m)
Renan Lavigne 3-0 Peter Creed
12/10, 11/8, 11/6 (41m)
Thierry Lincou 3-0 Jethro Binns
11/8, 11/6, 11/8 (31m)
Julien Balbo 3-0 Nic Birt
11/7, 11/2, 11/3 (26m)
England 4-0 Netherlands
Nick Matthew 3-0 Dylan Bennett
11/5, 11/5, 11/8 (28m)
Adrian Grant 3-0 Rene Mijs
11/4, 11/4, 11/8 (37m)
Peter Barker 3-0 Piedro Schweertman
11/8, 11/8, 11/5 (34m)
Alister Walker 3-0 Bart Ravelli
11/3, 11/4, 11/6 (31m) |
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It's England again
England's women have never failed to reach the ETC final - never
failed to win it in fact - and they eased into the 2009 final
today with a solid win over France.
Alison Waters proved too strong for the ever-improving Camille
Serme, and Jenny Duncalf always had the edge over Isabelle
Stoehr, the Frenchwoman never quite able to close the early
leads that Jenny built up.
Blake gives Ireland hope
The second women's semi started with a real upset as Aisling
Blake beat former world number one Vanessa Atkinson in straight
games. Two of them went to extra points, and with Atkinson
finding the tin too regularly it was Blake who took her team
into and unexpected lead.
In the top string match Madeline Perry had the chance to put
Ireland into the final - if she could beat world number four
Natalie Grinham, something she had never done before in six
attempts.
The Irishwoman started well, dictating the pace as she took the
first game, but Grinham worked her way back into the match,
taking the next three games to set up the decider.
 Realistically
Ireland knew they had to win at the top of the order, but for
the Dutch, Annelize Naudé still had to do the business against
her much lower-ranked opponent, Zoe Barr.
The flame-haired Dutchwoman duly did so, taking the Netherlands
into a seventh consecutive final against the English.
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 "Very
pleased with that win, it's the first time I've beaten her.
"I knew she likes to break up the rhythm of the game, so I went
on trying to keep the pace high to stop her doing that.
"Her boasts are so good, they drag you around the court but
today the important ones kept just clipping the tin.
"It's a good win, hopefully Madeline can do her stuff now ..."
 "It
was all starting to get a bit nervous during the first match,
and in my first game I was thinking too much about the fact I
had to win, rather than doing what I needed to do.
"I came out a lot better in the second, started playing my game
rather than hers - she's very good at hitting the ball hard and
tough to beast at that game.
"I think Vanessa must be testing me - she's had the pressure on
her all these years, and as this is my first Euro Teams she
wanted to see how I coped with it!"
 "You're
expected to win, but you still have to go out there and do it -
it wasn't easy after watching two long, hectic matches and I was
a bit nervous at the start.
"Once I got hitting the ball I was ok though, I just had to keep
my focus.
"This will be my sixth final now ... sixth time lucky?"
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France
& England ease into final
 France will contest their eighth final in nine years after
cruising past Wales in the first men's semi-final. The Welsh
rested their two most experienced players, David Evans and Alex
Gough, saving them for tomorrow's third/fourth playoff.
Their old adversaries England also made serene progress into the
final. The Netherlands rested their number three player, but
England were too strong in all departments as they won all four
ties 3/0. |
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Women's 5-12 Quarters
 The
5-12 quarter-finals are pretty important, given that the winners
are guaranteed a top eight place, and therefore have the
opportunity to win the event next year, while the losers know
they have to win their group next time to have another chance at
the top eight ...
Switzerland and Germany clinched their places with 2-0
wins over Wales and Scotland respectively, but both were
hard-fought, as the delight of the winners demonstrates ...
For Germany Sina Wall beat Alex Clark 3-0 and Pamela Hathaway
beat Frania Gillen-Buchert 3-1, and for the Swiss Sarah Gueby
and Gaby Schmol beat Stacey Preece and Deon Saffery, both 3-1.
Joining them in next year's top eight will be Denmark and
Italy. Ellen Petersen and Line Hansen did the business for
Denmark as they beat Spain's Xisela Aranda and Elisabet Sado,
3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
In probably the noisiest match of the tournament so far, Italy
clinched their first-ever appearance in the top eight as Sonia
Pasteris and Manuela Manetta both won in straight games to put
Belgium into the CDEF pools next year, and boy were those noisy
Italians delighted ... |
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Men's 5-12 Quarters
Having fallen one short of their seeding, missing out on the
semis to Wales, Germany made sure they stayed in the top
eight with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Denmark. Simon Rosner
needed the full five games to overcome Rasmus Nielsen, but
otherwise it was comfortable enough for the Germans.
Germany will meet Finland in the 5-8 semi-finals after
the Finns beat Switzerland 3-1. Key to the match was Olli
Tuominen's recovery from 2-1 down to Nicolas Mueller, leaving it
to Henrik Mustonen and Matias Tuomi to seal the victory which
puts Finland back into the top eight after dropping out in 2003.
Hosts Sweden were thwarted in their bid to return to the top
table as they went down 4-0 to a determined Scotland.
Spain made a determined bid to return to the top eight at
Ireland's expense - the Spanish took a 2-1 lead thanks to a
marathon 3-2 win over Derek - running on empty - Ryan, leaving
Victor Montserrat needing to take two games off Arthur Gaskin
for victory.
Montserrat took the first, and recovered from 10/6 down to force
extra points in the second, but it was the Irishman who
prevailed 3-1 to give the match to the Irish on games countback. |
David Vidal beats Derek Ryan 3-2,
but Ireland's draw is enough |
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