Vitalij Durkin and Nina Vislova spared Russia the blushes with a narrow victory over Sweden on the opening day of the 2015 European Mixed Team Championships yesterday.
Going into the final match, the Group 4 tie was evenly split at 2-2. Russia were given the lead in Women’s Singles by Ksenia Polikarpova, who recovered from a stumble against Ellinor Widh, 21-7 19-21 21-15. Mattias Borg brought Sweden right back into the contest beating Vladimir Malkov in Men’s Singles, 21-18 21-18.
Russia went ahead once again, with Ekaterina Bolotova/Evgeniya Kosetskaya getting the better of Emelie Fabbeke/Emma Wengberg, 21-13 9-21 21-15.
With European Men’s Doubles champions Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov taking court for the next match, the Russians would have felt they were safely through. However, they were dealt a huge shock with Nico Ruponen (left)/Filip Michael Duwall Myhren blanking them in straight games, 21-19 21-18.
It was left to Durkin and Vislova (featured image) to salvage the situation for Russia, which they did despite being run close by Jonathan Nordh/Emelie Fabekke. The Russians prevailed 21-18 23-21.
Earlier in the same group, France outgunned Sweden 4-1. Sweden were briefly in the contest after Gabriel Ulldahl surprised Brice Leverdez in Men’s Singles to make it 1-1, but France comfortably won the next three matches.
In Group 2, Ireland beat Belgium 3-2, but the match wasn’t as close as the score suggested, for Ireland clinched the tie after winning the first three matches. Sam Magee/Chloe Magee took half-an-hour to get past Nick Marcoen/Flore Vandenhoucke (Mixed Doubles) 21-10 21-17; Scott Evans consolidated beating Yuhan Tan 21-13 21-17 (Men’s Singles) and Chloe Magee (above) captured the tie for Scotland overcoming Lianne Tan (Women’s Singles) 21-12 21-17.
In Group 1, Netherlands were surprise 5-0 winners over Poland. Despite the experience of Poland’s doubles veterans, they were unable to prevent the whitewash. Jacco Arends/Selena Piek stormed past Robert Mateusiak/Agnieszka Wojtkowska (Mixed Doubles) 21-17 21-16; Eric Pang was stretched by Michal Rogalski 14-21 21-13 21-18 (Men’s Singles), before Soraya De Visch Eijbergen (above) made sure for Netherlands beating Weronika Grudzina (Women’s Doubles) 21-14 21-12.
Scotland and Germany received a walkover from Spain in Group 3.
For day’s results, click here.
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