(By Steve Hopkins)

The singles semifinals are now set at the European Games in Krakow, Poland.  The final four pairings in Men’s Singles are Alexis Lebrun versus Marcos Freitas, and Felix Lebrun versus Andrej Gacina.  The top seeds have all fallen, and however the final matches shake out, there will be some neat story-lines.  Could this be the start of another run into the Top 20 for 35 year old Marcos Freitas?  Can Croatia’s savvy 37 year old win it all?  Could we see an all-France and all-Lebrun sibling Final?

The women’s match-ups will be Romania’s Elizabeta Samara versus Xiaoxin Yang of Monoco, and Romania’s Bernadette Szocs versus Natalia Bajor of Poland.  Will local favorite Bajor ride the energy of the home crowd?  Will Xiaoxin give Monaco a title just nine years after moving there from Beijing?  Will Samara and Szocs both advance giving Romania both Gold and Silver?

In the late Men’s matches today, Felix Lebrun and Andrei Ionescu traded games until the match was tied 2-2, and then Felix dominated the final two games with 11-5 and 11-5 wins.  The match was closer than the score for Gacina and Habesohn, as Gacina pulled out the 4-1 win (4-1: 7, -9, 9, 10, 9).

In the early matches, Marcos Freitas of Portugal downed Darko Jorgic of Slovenia.  Jorgic, who has won tour events and the Euro Cup 16, dropped the first three games before mounting his comeback – but it was Freitas winning 4-2.  And in the other match this morning, it was Alexis losing the first game to Dang Qiu before running off four wins in a row.  Four of the five games between the two were decided by the minimum 2 points.

The Finals are scheduled for tomorrow.

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