(by Steve Hopkins)

The CCB Europe Top 16 Cup is being played in Montreaux, Switzerland this week.  Europe’s Continental Cup event began with preliminary rounds before the Top 16 action got underway on Friday.  In the top half of the draw it is two Frenchmen and two Germans who have advanced.  Felix Lebrun had a tough time with Benedikt Duda, but the tournament’s top seed weathered a 17-15 heartbreaking loss to fall behind 1-2 before rallying for the 3-2 win.  Felix will face Patrick Franziska who needed all five games to defeat Dimitrij Ovtcharov in their all-German opening round match.  Felix’s older brother, Alexis Lebrun had an easier time in his 3-0 first round win over Daniel Habesohn.  The elder Lebrun will face Dang Qiu, who also swept his opponent (Anton Kallberg) 3-0.

In the bottom half of the draw, Truls Moregard topped Alvaro Robles 3-1, Marcos Freitas defeated Andrej Gacina 3-0, Jonathan Groth defeated Anders Lind 3-1, and Darko Jorgic outlasted Eduard Ionescu 3-2.  Tomorrow Moregard will face Freitas and Jorgic will face Groth.

Three Germans reached the Final 8 on the Women’s side, and none will face each other in this round.  Xiaona Shan will face Romania’s Bernadette Szocs, Ying Han will face Portugal’s Jieni Shao, and Sabine Winter will face Austria’s Sofia Plcanova.  The fourth match (sans German player) is between Linda Bergstrom of Sweden and Elizabeta Samara of Romania.

Action continues on Saturday and will conclude on Sunday.

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