(By Steve Hopkins)
The European Games are underway in Krakow, Poland. The Finals will be awarded in doubles on Monday and in singles on Tuesday. Team events begin on Wednesday.
Sunday was an eventful day for Men’s singles as two of the top seeds fell in upsets. Truls Moregardh lost 4-3 to Daniel Habesohn of Austria in a seesaw battle of changing momentum. Habesohn started fast, dominating the first game for an 11-6 win. Truls then turned the tables completely, dominating the second game for the same score. The next three games with Habesohn winning twice 12-10, and then Moregardh winning 13-11. And when Moregardh found himself down, and needing to win both of the final two games – he pulled out his best and won the sixth game easily 11-3. But in the final and deciding game, Habesohn pulled ahead in the middle and held on for the 11-7 game win, the 4-3 match win. Habesohn punches his ticket for the Quarterfinals.
The other big upset of the day was Dimitrij Ovtcharov who started strong, but then fell apart in his match against Andrei Ionescu of Romania. Ovtcharov won the first two games 11-7, 11-7 and had a late lead in the third. However, Ionescu fought back to tie the score in Game 3 and then eventually won 14-12. After this, it was all Ionescu – running off wins by the scores of 11-7, 12-10, and 11-5 for the 4-2 match win.
Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic topped Robert Gardos 4-2, Croatia’s Andrej Gacina topped Belgium’s Nuytinck 4-1, Marcos Freitas upset Kristian Karlsson 4-3, both Lebruns advanced for France (Alexis and Felix), and the top seed Dang Qiu breezed past Italy’s Stoyanov 4-0.
It was a doubly busy day for Dang Qiu who also advanced to the Mixed Doubles Final with his partner Nina Mittelham. They will face Hungary’s Ecseki and Madarasz on Monday.
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