Giannis Sgouropoulos started his attempt at the main draw of the Croatian World Table Tennis Contender in Zagreb with an excellent result and created conditions for something substantial, however in the third qualifying round he did not have the same performance and was eliminated in three sets.
To qualify for the first round of singles, an athlete would have to go through four qualifying rounds and be in the top eight. Sgouropoulos beat the Italian Niagol Stoyanov 3-0 in the second qualifier, but a few hours later he was defeated by the French Leo De Nodre.
Katerina Toliou and Elizabeth Terpou also participated in the Zagreb tournament, right after their participation in the European Games.
Sgouropoulos (number 239 in the world ranking) was only looking for victory on Tuesday night in order to go to the decisive match for the qualification. Leo De Nodre (number 155 in the world) has been his rival since the European junior events.
The Frenchman showed a good “read” for the game of the four-time European champion. The latter could not keep up the excellent pace from the previous match, he was unstable and the fateful defeat and elimination came with 3-0 sets (2-11, 6-11, 6-11).
Sgouropoulos had a “bye” in the first qualifier and entered the tournament from the second, facing a regular opponent of recent years. The reason for Nyagol Stoyanov (No. 134), against whom he had a good tradition, but always gave tough matches.
On Tuesday, however, the Eleusinian ace was unbeatable. He applied excellent tactics, pressing the Italian on the backhand and most importantly he was very stable both in his attacks and in control. Despite his vast experience, Stoyanov found no way out and Sgouropoulos won 3-0 sets (11-6, 11-8, 11-6).
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