England’s line-up of Helshan Weerasinghe, Tom Jarvis and Luke Savill reached the semi-finals of the team event at the Croatia Youth Open, where they were beaten by eventual champions Romania A.

Having qualified for the knockout stage in Varazdin, England beat Romania C in the last 16, with Weerasinghe beating Bogdan Singeorzan 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-1), Jarvis seeing off Florin Spelbus in three close sets (13-11, 13-11, 14-12) and Savill defeating Paul Mladin 3-1 (11-7, 11-13, 11-2, 11-9).

In the quarter-finals, it was again a 3-0 scoreline against Austria. Jarvis started proceedings by shading it 3-2 against Andreas Levenko (11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6) and Weerasinghe then beat Thomas Grininger 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5). Savill finished things off with a 3-0 victory over Christian Friedrich (11-8, 15-13, 11-9).

But Romania A, featuring three of the top eight singles seeds, were too strong. Jarvis took a set off top seed Cristian Pletea, going down 7-11, 14-12, 7-11, 6-11, Weerasinghe was beaten 5, 6, 7 by Rares Sipos and Savill lost 6, 7, 9 to Alexandru Manole.

Earlier, the England line-up won their group, beating Croatia B 3-0 and Slovakia 3-1.

Against Croatia, Weerasinghe saw off Luka Martinek 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-2), Jarvis beat Martin Petrovic 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-4) and Savill defeated Mario Banek 3-1 (11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8).

In the Slovakia clash, Jarvis beat Adam Brat 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6) and Weerasinghe made it 2-0 against Tibor Spanik (13-11, 11-4, 11-5). Savill lost 3-2 to Stefan Peko (11-6, 14-16, 11-5, 11-13, 10-12) but Jarvis defeated Spanik 8, 7, 8 to seal victory.

Sam Mabey, playing alongside Theodore Tran of the USA and Canada’s Jeremy Hazin, qualified for the last 16, where they were eliminated by Slovakia A. Mabey was beaten 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-4) by Spanik.

In the groups, Mabey won his match against Austria, beating Christian Friedrich 3-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7), but the team lost 3-2 overall.

They then beat Romania B 3-0, Mabey sewing up the victory with a 3-1 defeat of Teodor Lipan (6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9).

In the girls’ competition, Emily Bolton teamed up with Welsh duo Kate Roberts and Soffi Jenkins but the team were beaten 3-0 by Austria, Croatia A and Slovenia in the group stage.