Tin-Tin Ho has bagged a silver medal in the Junior Mixed Doubles at the European Youth Championships – and will also be on the singles podium having reached the semi-finals.
Ho and her partner Tomas Polansky of the Czech Republic were defeated 3-1 by Belarus pair Aliaksandr Khanin & Daria Trigolos in the final.
Their opponents won the first two points of the match, but a run of six points put third seeds Ho & Polansky in charge and they went on to close out the first game 11-5.
Khanin & Trigolos, the second seeds, again won the first two points of game two but when they found themselves 5-3 down, they called an early timeout. It had the desired effect as they fought their way back and eventually took their fourth game point to seal it 13-11.
The third was never in doubt as Khanin & Trigolos built a steady lead to take it 11-5. And it was 11-5 too in the fourth as from 2-2 they won seven of the next eight points, making light of Ho & Polansky’s timeout at 5-2, before taking their second match point.
Ho & Polansky earlier beat Thomas Grininger & Karoline Mischek of Austria 3-0 in the semi-finals in Zagreb, making relatively easy work of the surprise packages, who are ranked 30th but defeated top seeds Cristian Pletea & Adina Diaconu of Romania in the previous round.
Ho has another chance of glory as she has reached the semi-finals of the singles. Seeded sixth, she defeated 26th seed Sabina Surjan of Serbia 4-2 in the last 16 and brushed aside France’s Audrey Zarif, the third seed, 4-0 in the quarter-finals today. The semi-finals take place tomorrow and Ho will face Jing Ning of Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, Alex Ramsden reached the final of the Junior Boys’ Consolation Singles, where he was beaten 3-2 by Portugal’s Jose Pedro Lavado Francisco, who had earlier accounted for Luke Savill in the quarters.
Denise Payet and James Smith both exited their respective Cadet Singles campaigns in the last 64 on Friday, while Smith and his Dutch partner Collin Jager went out in the last 32 of the doubles – the same stage that saw Ramsden & Savill eliminated in the Junior Boys’ Doubles.
Today’s results
Junior Mixed Doubles
Semi-finals
Tomas Polansky & Tin-Tin Ho bt Thomas Grininger & Karoline Mischek (AUT) 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 13-11)
Junior Girls’ Singles
Round of 16
Tin-Tin Ho bt Sabina Surjan (SRB) 4-2 (11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6)
Quarter-finals
Ho bt Audrey Zarif (FRA) 4-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8)
Junior Boys’ Consolation Singles
Round of 32
Alex Ramsden bt Marko Vidacek (CRO) 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-2)
Luke Savill bt Federico Giardi (SMR) w/o
Round of 16
Savill bt Michael Trink (AUT) 3-0 (11-6, 11-2, 11-6)
Ramsden bt Batuhan Zihni Sahin (TUR) 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-5)
Quarter-finals
Ramsden bt Christian Friedrich (AUT) 3-2 (3-11, 11-2, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9)
Jose Pedro Lavado Francisco (POR) bt Savill 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-3)
Semi-finals
Ramsden bt Gabriele Piciulin (ITA) 3-1 (11-8, 3-11, 11-3, 12-10)
Final
Jose Pedro Lavado Francisco (POR) bt Ramsden 3-2 (11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5)
Friday’s results
Junior Mixed Doubles
Quarter-finals
Tomas Polansky & Tin-Tin Ho bt Maxim Chaplygin & Maria Malanina (RUS) 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-5)
Junior Girls Singles
Round of 64
Tin-Tin Ho bt Jessica Zlatilova (AUT) 4-1 (9-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9)
Round of 32
Ho bt Anna Krasikova (RUS) 4-0 11-7, 11-3, 11-3, 11-7)
Junior Boys’ Doubles
Round of 32
Istvan Patrik Molnar & Gergo Timafalvi (HUN) bt Luke Savill & Alex Ramsden 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-6)
Cadet Girls’ Singles
Round of 64
Ekaterina Zironova (RUS) bt Denise Payet 4-1 (11-4, 12-10, 12-10, 6-11, 11-5)
Cadet Boys’ Singles
Round of 64
Bilal Hamache (FRA) bt James Smith 4-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7)
Cadet Boys’ Doubles
Round of 32
Truls Moregardh & Martin Friis (SWE) bt James Smith & Collin Jager (NED) 3-1 (11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8)
Junior Boys’ Consolation Singles
Round of 128
Alex Ramsden bt Bence Balasz (HUN) 3-1 (3-11, 11-2, 12-10, 11-6)
Round of 64
Ramsden bt Vlastimil Buben (CZE) 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 14-12)
Luke Savill bt Luka Norcic (SLO) 3-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6)