Table tennis doubles Sabine Winter/Nina Mittelham and Dang Qui/Benedikt Duda have made it into the quarter-finals of the European Championship.
In the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, Winter/Mittelham clearly beat the young duo Annett Kaufmann/Franziska Schreiner 3-0. In contrast to the previous round, when the duo of Kolbermoor and Willich first had to catch up from a 0:2 set deficit, this time they dominated the game from the start. The first set ended 11:5.
It remained a courageous performance with few mistakes, even if the young Kaufmann/Schreiner, who was only 16 or 20 years old, was able to fend off three set balls in the second round. When Kaufmann missed an attack ball, the 11:8 was perfect. It was tight in the last set, but the favorites were able to convert the second match point to 12:10.
Qui/Duda come back
In the men’s round of 16, Dang Qui and Benedikt Duda only prevailed after major problems at the beginning. The defensive players Lubomir Pistei (Slovakia) and Aleksandar Karakasevic (Serbia) won the first set 11:2. After that, national coach Jörg Roßkopf advised his protégés not to react too aggressively to the slow game.
In fact, the fifth in the world rankings was able to win the next rounds with 11:7, 11:9 and 11:3. The third set was important, when the two Germans didn’t let themselves be upset by three saved set balls.