Friday was all about the team events at the French Junior and Cadet Open and once again for England it was the cadets who led the way.
The impressive pairing of Tin-Tin Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos managed to win their group and reach the quarter-finals before they were closely beaten by a strong Romania A side.
Earlier in their group they had beaten both Scotland and Belgium B comfortably to advance to the next round but their final fixture against Romania B would decide who was seeded. It was Ho and Tsaptsinos who ensured their place with a fine 3-2 victory.
The pair started well with Ho beating Adina Diaconu 3-2 while Tsaptsinos beat Bianca Crisan by the same scoreline. However, the Romanians fought back by winning the doubles before Diaconu beat Tsaptsinos 3-0 to pile the pressure on Tin-Tin.
In the true nature of classic matches – it went down to a deciding fifth game after Tin-Tin had twice pulled level from behind. Eventually she held her nerve to beat Crisan 11-7 in that last game and secure a bye to the quarter-finals.
There they met the Romanian A side with World cadet number 16 Daria Chernova and number 29 Maria Malanina ready to face them. Although England lost 3-0, things could have been so much different as both Ho against Malanina and the pair in the doubles took their matches to a deciding fifth game.
The cadet boys of Helshan Weerasinghe and Sam Mabey also progressed through their group albeit in second place, meaning they had to negotiate a first round tie.
This proved their downfall as they lost 3-2 to France C – a misguiding title given world cadet number 38 Joe Seyfried was in their ranks. This did, however, not stop Weerasinghe picking up an excellent consolation win against Seyfried when he claimed the final game in their epic five-game match 11-8.
The story was different for the two junior teams who had already been through the hassle on the first two days of not having their luggage and fighting it out in the singles competitions. In the end it proved too much as neither team advanced through their group.
Tomorrow will see the cadet singles and doubles start with high hopes for the English players on show. We will have to wait and see just how far they can get.
Junior Boys Results:
Germany B 3-0 England
Frederick Jost bt Sam Walker 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-7)
Liang Qiu bt Lewis Gray 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-2)
Florian Schreiner bt Igor Morais 3-1 (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-2)
France C 3-0 England
Mehdi Bouloussa bt Lewis Gray 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6)
Paul Gauzy bt Sam Walker 3-2 (5-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7)
Can Akkuzu bt Igor Morais 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8)
England 3-0 Wales
Sam Walker bt Lewis Williams 3-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-3)
Lewis Gray bt Alex Prosser 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-1)
Igor Morais bt Conor Edwards 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6)
Junior Girls Results:
Japan 3-0 England
Yui Hamamoto bt Vicky Smith 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 12-10)
Miu Hirano bt Emily Bates 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 12-10)
Mayuka Taira bt Yolanda King 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7)
France B 3-0 England
Chloe Martial bt Vicky Smith 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5)
Estelle Debonne bt Yolanda King 3-1 (11-6, 11-2, 8-11, 11-7)
Alyssia Perrin bt Emily Bates 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 12-10)
Cadet Boys Results:
England 3-0 Russia B
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Iliya Isakov 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7)
Sam Mabey bt Andrey Semenov 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-8)
Mabey/Weerasinghe bt Tyutryumov/Isakov 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4)
France B 3-1 England
Lucas Rigault bt Sam Mabey 3-2 (11-13, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7)
Nolan Givone bt Helshan Weerasinghe 3-2 (11-6, 6-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6)
Mabey/Weerasinghe bt Douin/Rigault 3-2 (6-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9)
Lucas Rigault bt Helshan Weerasinghe 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 12-10)
First Knock-out Round:
France C 3-2 England
Irvin Bertrand bt Helshan Weerasinghe 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-8)
Joe Seyfried bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 12-10)
Mabey/Weerasinghe bt Reynaud/Bertrand 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 12-10)
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Joe Seyfried 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-8)
Irvin Bertrand bt Sam Mabey 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5)
Cadet Girls Results:
England 3-0 Scotland
Tin-Tin Ho bt Lucy Elliot 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-4)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Rachel Crawford 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 13-11)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Elliot/Crawford 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 15-13)
England 3-1 Belgium B
Tin-Tin Ho bt Margo Degraef 3-1 (11-5, 13-11, 11-13, 11-2)
Lisa Lung bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-1 (11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8)
Ho/Tsaptsinos bt Lung/Degraef 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Margo Degraef 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-6)
England 3-2 Romania B
Tin-Tin Ho bt Adina Diaconu 3-2 (11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8)
Maria Tsaptsinos bt Bianca Crisan 3-2 (11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4)
Diaconu/Singeorzan bt Ho/Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-8)
Adina Diaconu bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (12-10, 11-1, 11-6)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Bianca Crisan 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7)
First Knock-out Round:
Bye
Quarter-Final:
Russia A 3-0 England
Daria Chernova bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-8)
Maria Malanina bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-2 (11-4, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 12-10)
Chernova/Malanina bt Ho/Tsaptsinos 3-2 (10-12, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7)