Semis in
Amsterdam set up repeat finals
on a sad day in Amsterdam ...
Reports,
quotes, photos on the BLOG
 Men's
top seeds England and France both comfortably secured
their places in a sixth successive final in this, the 40th
European Team Championships, but women's top seeds
England and Ireland were both pushed to deciding matches
before setting up a repeat final of their own.
Before the matches started though, everyone was informed
of the sudden death of Peter Zobelein, one of the
referees at the tournament. This naturally cast a shadow
over the whole day's proceedings. More on the blog.
In the first match of the day England, who have won the
title on every staging except one, met third seeds France,
and while Alison Waters duly gave them the lead, she didn't
have an easy time of it against Cyrielle Peltier.
 World
number two Laura Massaro had an even tougher time against
Camille Serme, who bounced back from a nailbiting loss in
yesterday's final pool match to take a two-game lead before
finally levelling the match with an equally nailbiting 3-2
win.
That left it up to Jenny Duncalf to maintain England's grip
on the title, which she duly did with a staight-games win
over Maud Duplomb.
England's men would have been hot favourites to beat Germany
in any event, but when the fourth seeds decided to rest
their number one Simon Rosner the results was never in much
doubt, and a 4-0 win duly put England into their 21st
successive final.
 Hosts
Netherlands had appeared in nine finals in a row before
losing out last year, but, seeded five, they bounced back to
reach the semi-finals where they faced last year's
runners-up Ireland, equally keen to return to the final.
Aisling Blake got the Irish off to a flying start with a 3-0
win over Orla Noom, but Natalie Grinham levelled the match,
beating a tiring Madeline Perry in four games to set up a
decider.
 And
what a decider it was as Laura Mylotte saw her two-game lead
pegged back, and then saw her 8-3 lead in the fifth
disappear as Milou Van Der Heijden levelled it at 8-all.
It went the Irish way in the end though, Laura taking it
11/9 much to the relief and delight of her team-mates.
In the second men's semi-final Scotland put up a typically
determined challenge against France, bidding to reach a 13th
final in 14 years, and Greg Marche, Greg Gaultier and
Thierry Lincou all won in straight - but tough - games to
set up a sixth successive England v France final.
Elsewhere there was plenty of excitement and drama as teams
fought for survival or promotion in their respective
divisions, with their final fates to be decided tomorrow.
Division
One Semi-Finals, Glass Court:
W [1] England 2-1 [3] France
Alison Waters 3-1 Cyrielle Peltier
11/8, 11/7, 9/11, 11/4 (37m)
Laura Massaro 2-3 Camille Serme 14/16,6/11,11/6,11/9,11/13
(74m)
Jenny Duncalf 3-0 Maud Duplomb
11/6, 11/4, 11/4 (23m)
M [1] England 4-0 [3] Germany
Peter Barker 3-0 André Haschker
11/7, 11/7, 11/5 (46m)
Nick Matthew 3-0 Raphael Kandra
11/2, 11/6, 11/4 (35m)
James Willstrop 2-0 Jens Schoor
11/9, 11/5 (27m)
Daryl Selby 2-1 Rudi Rohrmueller
9/11, 11/6, 11/8 (33m)
W [2] Ireland 2-1 [5] Netherlands
Aisling Blake 3-0 Orla Noom
11/6, 11/8, 11/4 (27m)
Madeline Perry 1-3 Natalie Grinham
8/11, 11/9, 5/11, 5/11 (45m)
Laura Mylotte 3-2 Milou vd Heijden
11/8,11/4,6/11,9/11,11/9 (49m)
M [2] France 3-0 [4] Scotland
Greg Marche 3-0 Dougie Kempsall
11/9, 11/6, 11/9 (43m)
Gregory Gaultier 3-0 Alan Clyne
16/14, 11/8, 11/8 (54m)
Thierry Lincou 2-0 Greg Lobban
11/7, 11/4 (22m)
Reports, quotes,
photos on the BLOG
Division One 5/8
W Belgium 0-2 Wales, W Germany 0-2 Czech Republic
M Denmark 2-2 Switzerland, Italy 2-2 Spain
Division Two Semi-Finals:
M Netherlands 4-0 Ireland, Finland
2-1 Wales
Division Two 9/12:
M Slovakia 3-1 Poland, Portugal 2-2 Ukraine
Division Three semi-finals:
M Norway 3-1 Malta, Israel 3-0 Gibraltar
Plus women's division 2 & 3 round robins and other
men's division 2 & 3 playoff matches
|
100 Caps for Jenny
RIP Peter
|
