The World Table Tennis Feeder II in Dusseldorf concluded on Wednesday with Yannis Sgouropoulos placing in the 17-32 singles positions and having a dynamic presence in one more Feeder in 2024.
First, because he started with a great victory in five sets against Poland’s Maciej Kubik, an athlete with European junior titles and a higher position in the international ranking, and then because he had a performance in the second round, with which he could even overcome the ninth favorite of the matches, Alberto Mino from Ecuador, from whom he was eventually eliminated with 3-0 sets.
Dimitra-Thomais Tsekoura also took part in the tournament. She was directly in the second qualifying round of the women’s singles, “chasing” entry to the main draw, but lost 3-1 sets to the Spanish Yana Riera.
Sgouropoulos (number 30 in the seeding of the tournament) started his attempt at noon and at “64” he found in front of him the high obstacle of Poland’s Maciej Kubik, current European champion in doubles and European runner-up in men’s singles Under 21 (number 17).
In a great match with a spectacle, high technique and fluctuations, he certified his good condition and achieved a great victory.
He entered the table very strongly and took the lead emphatically. Naturally, the Pole then stepped up, made great use of his serve and took the next two sets cleanly. The Eleusinian ace had lost his rhythm somewhere, but not his hard hitting or strong psychology.
Thus, in the fourth set, he pulled off an impressive comeback from 8-5 down to level. In the decisive fifth set, he did something he knows very well, to prevail in the details thanks to his composure. From 5-4 down with three points in a row, he quickly overcame with a good serve and quality attacks to reach his second major-event victory against Kubic (11-2, 6-11, 3-11, 11- 8, 11-7).
Late in the afternoon, in the round of 32, the five-time European champion faced Alberto Mino. A strong representative of Latin America, who is number 9 in the German WTT seeding and 70 in the world ranking. The match was balanced from start to finish and, although it ended 3-0, it is clear that the athlete from Ecuador prevailed in the details. Sgouropoulos had a good playing face in this match as well, he just didn’t get the shots at the most critical moments.
He lost the first set in overtime. In the second set he led 7-4 and quickly conceded the equalizer to bend again at the limit. In the third set he was behind in the score, he covered the handicap, but again the final result was formed with the smallest difference (11-13, 9-11, 9-11).
AX’S ATTEMPT IN THE QUALIFICATIONS
In the women’s heats, Tsekura started her effort strongly, but did not finish accordingly. She was up against Yana Riera, a very good young athlete and made a great start, although still not at her best after an ankle injury.
After taking the first set by a margin, she led 10-9 in the second and was unlucky there. The athlete from Spain made three consecutive sori and “turned around” the situation in overtime. Then, he “opened” the game, something that didn’t sit well with Chekoura. In addition, our champion was affected by the way she missed the chance to make it 2-0 and was unable to recover.
The development: 11-3, 10-12, 4-11 and 3-11
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