WTT Feeder Sweden: In the round of 16, Angelakis’ excellent career stopped

In very good form from the beginning to the end of the Swedish World Table Tennis Feeder in Stockholm, Konstantinos Angelakis first entered the third round, defeating Turkey’s Ibrahim Guduz 3-1 sets and in the evening he was naturally eliminated in the round of 16 with 3-0 sets by the outstanding Frenchman Jules Rolland, who is in the top 100 athletes of the world ranking.

With a total of four victories, Angelakis achieved the best ranking of his career in a rewarding men’s tournament of the world federation and at the same time ensured a large point advantage in the international ranking list.

Angelakis had progressed with two victories in the qualifiers and one in the main board and with the very remarkable performances giving him confidence, he chased without pressure the best possible placing. In “32” he met a completely passable opponent. He himself may not appear in the international evaluation in recent months and Guduz is at number 426, but the chances of victory were already high because the Turk had weaknesses against the defense.

This was also seen on the table from the beginning. The 2020 Greek men’s singles champion made a strong start and took the lead. He fell behind only in the second set, where the left-handed opponent created a difference (7-0) and capitalized on it, but from there he dominated. He was in control with quality defenses and selected attacks, he upset Guduz and reached the valuable victory with 3-1 sets (11-8, 7-11, 11-5 and 11-7).

In the evening the degree of difficulty went up. Roland, number 94 in the current world rankings, beyond his given value, showed great skills with the defense. Angelakis gave everything to enter the quarterfinals and did not lag behind.

He tried to press with the combination of defense and attack, he also took his risks, but the 23-year-old Frenchman presented himself ready for all the blows. He had fluency in spins and stability, creating a difference at critical points in the sets to finally prevail 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-8).

* Another international athlete made his debut in a foreign league for the 2023-2024 season. The 21-year-old Gerasimos Hatzilygeroudis made his debut in the Spanish super division with Prisco L’Escala. His side were held to a 3-3 draw away to Alzira TT and the third-placed Balkan winner last year and this year in the men’s team had two 3-0 set defeats to Ruith Guillio and Pardo Fernandez.

* Konstantinos Alexoudis and Konstantinos Isaakidis continue their matches in the Youth Contender of Montenegro on Friday. They compete in the singles category of athletes up to 15 years old. Yesterday they were eliminated in the Under 13 groups, both scoring one win and two losses.