Holland & England in Double Semis
April 28, 2005, by Howard Harding
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

Ireland and Scotland join NL and England in Women's Semis

Beachill and Nicol, teammates for now, lead England Men into semis. photo © 2005 Stephen J Line.

Favourites England and hosts Netherlands claimed places in the semi-finals of both the men's and women's events in the European Team Championships for the third successive year after victories in Thursday's final qualifying ties at the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam.

In the men's event, defending champions England swept to their third successive 4/0 triumph in the event - beating fifth seeds Ireland without dropping a game to finish at the top of the Pool A in the Premier Division. Netherlands, the fourth seeds, finished in second place in the Pool after a 3/1 victory over eighth seeds Finland - the hosts' No1 Tommy Berden going down in five games to flying Finn Olli Tuominen, the world No21 from Helsinki.

Second seeds France, runners-up to England for the past five years, also claimed their third 4/0 win in a row in Pool B when they despatched sixth seeds Spain to set up a semi-final against the hosts. National champion Alex Gough made his first appearance for third seeds Wales - and led his country to a 4/0 victory over Germany, the seventh seeds, to ensure runners-up position in the pool.

Wales will celebrate their ninth successive appearance in the semi-finals by meeting British rivals England.

In the first year of the promotion/relegation play-offs, the lower-placed teams in the top two pools - Finland, Ireland, Germany and Spain - will fight to maintain their places in the Premier Division in ties against the winners of Pools C, D, E & F - Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Scotland, respectively.

England and Netherlands appear to be heading for their third successive meeting in the women's final after winning the Premier Division Pools A & B, respectively. But there were surprises in the runners-up positions in the two pools after eighth seeds Scotland upset fourth seeds Belgium 2/1 to finish in second place in Pool A, and seventh seeds Ireland brushed aside France, the third seeds, 3/0 in Pool B to earn a place in the semi-finals for the first time since 1994.

Title-holders England will meet Ireland while Netherlands will face Scotland.

Men's semi-finals:
[1] England v [3] Wales; [2] France v [4] Netherlands
Men's promotion/relegation group:
[8] Finland v [11] Sweden; [9] Denmark v [6] Spain; [12] Scotland v [5] Ireland; [7] Germany v [10] Switzerland
Men's 1st Division semi-finals:
[13] Belgium v [16] Czech Republic; [19] Hungary v [15] Israel
Men's 2nd Division semi-finals:
[17] Italy v [21] Ukraine; [18] Greece v [14] Austria
Women's semi-finals:
[1] England v [7] Ireland; [2] Netherlands v [8] Scotland
Women's promotion/relegation group:
[5] Germany bye; [10] Switzerland v [6] Denmark; [4] Belgium v [9] Spain; [3] France bye
Women's 11th - 14th place play-offs:
[14] Czech Republic v [12] Italy; [13] Finland v [11] Austria
RESULTS: European Team Championships, Frans Otten Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Men's final qualifying rounds - Premier Division Pool A:
[1] ENGLAND bt [5] IRELAND 4-0 (Lee Beachill bt Derek Ryan 9-2, 9-3, 9-4; Nick Matthew bt Steve Richardson 9-7, 9-0, 9-3; James Willstrop bt Niall Rooney 9-2, 9-0, 9-1; Simon Parke bt Arthur Gaskin 9-0, 9-0, 9-2)
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [8] FINLAND 3-1 (Tommy Berden lost to Olli Tuominen 7-9, 9-2, 2-9, 9-2, 4-9; Laurens Jan Anjema bt Matias Tuomi 9-3, 9-1, 9-1; Lucas Buit bt Juha Raumolin 9-7, 9-1, 9-5; Dylan Bennett bt Erno Teitti 10-9, 9-2, 9-2)
Final positions: 1 England, 2 Netherlands, 3 Finland, 4 Ireland

Premier Division Pool B:
[3] WALES bt [7] GERMANY 4-0 (Alex Gough bt Simon Frenz 3-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-2; David Evans bt Stefan Leifels 9-2, 9-0, 9-4; Gavin Jones bt Simon Rosner 7-9, 9-2, 9-7, 9-1; Greg Tippings bt Johannes Voit 9-5, 9-6, 9-7)
[2] FRANCE bt [6] SPAIN 4-0 (Thierry Lincou bt Borja Golan 9-1, 9-2, 9-1; Renan Lavigne bt Iago Cornes 9-1, 9-3, 9-3; Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Constantino Casas 9-1, 9-3, 9-2; Laurent Elriani bt Albert Codina 9-6, 9-1, 9-5)
Final positions: 1 France, 2 Wales, 3 Germany, 4 Spain

Pool C:
[9] DENMARK bt [17] ITALY 3-1 (Morten W Sorensen lost to Simone Rocca 4-9, 9-10, 9-6, 9-2, 4-9; Mads Korsbjerg bt Andrea Torricini 9-3, 9-4, 9-2; Michael Frilund bt Giacomo Marotta 9-3, 9-0, 9-4; Rene Jepsen bt Paolo Buglioni 9-2, 9-2, 9-3)
[16] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [17] ITALY 4-0 (Jan Koukal bt Simone Rocca 9-6, 9-5, 9-0; Martin Stepan bt Andrea Torricini 2-9, 9-6, 8-9, 9-8, 9-2; Milos Pokorny bt Giacomo Marotta 10-8, 9-5, 9-4; Pavel Sladecek bt Vittorio Gargiulo 9-2, 9-1, 9-1)
Final positions: 1 Denmark, 2 Czech Republic, 3 Italy

Pool D:
[10] SWITZERLAND bt [18] GREECE 3-1 (Marco Datwyler bt Fabian Kalaitzis 2-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-1; Andre Holderegger lost to Paul Gregory 7-9, 10-8, 3-9, 0-9; Kevin Villiger bt Petros Tzamaloukas 9-2, 9-2, 9-0; Marcel Straub bt Konstantinos Kargiotis 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[15] ISRAEL bt [18] GREECE 3-1 (Ilan Oren bt Fabian Kalaitzis 6-9, 3-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-5; Tomer Noach lost to Paul Gregory 6-9, 4-9, 3-9; Dove Haruzi bt Petros Tzamaloukas 3-9, 9-0, 4-9, 9-1, 9-7; Nadav Wilensky bt George Vafakos 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
Final positions: 1 Switzerland, 2 Israel, 3 Greece

Pool E:
[11] SWEDEN bt [19] HUNGARY 3-1 (Badr Abdel Aziz bt Mark Krajcsak 3-9, 9-5, 9-1, 9-0; Christian Drakenberg bt Andras Torok 9-3, 9-3, 9-1; Henrik Lofvenborg lost to Sandor Fulop 3-9, 4-9, 9-5, 8-10; Joakim Karlsson bt Shakeel Khan 9-7, 9-7, 9-5)
[14] AUSTRIA drew with [19] HUNGARY 2-2 (Andreas Fuchs lost to Mark Krajcsak 0-9, 7-9, 7-9; David Sabitzer-Huck lost to Andras Torok 0-9, 1-9, 1-9; Gerhard Schedlbauer bt Sandor Fulop w/o; Aqeel Rehman bt Shakeel Khan w/o)
Final positions: 1 Sweden, 2 Hungary, 3 Austria

Pool F:
[13] BELGIUM bt [20] RUSSIA 4-0 (Steve Dries bt Alexei Severinov 9-3, 9-1, 9-1; Wim van Asten bt Pavel Sergeev 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Rik Smet bt Sergey Kostrikin 9-0, 9-1, 9-3; Dave de Beule bt Andrey Brattner 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[12] SCOTLAND bt [21] UKRAINE 4-0 (John White bt Roman Dolynych 9-0, 9-6, 9-1; Stuart Crawford bt Dmytro Shcherbakov 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Kristen Johnson bt Oleksandr Molodukha 9-0, 9-3, 9-2; Harry Gordon Leitch bt Sergiy Zakomlystov 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[13] BELGIUM bt [21] UKRAINE 4-0 (Steve Dries bt Roman Dolynych 9-1, 9-0, 9-6; Wim van Asten bt Dmytro Shcherbakov 9-3, 9-0, 9-1; Ben Vandezande bt Oleksandr Molodukha 9-1, 9-3, 9-5; Dave de Beule bt Ilya Onishko 9-2, 9-0, 9-1)
[12] SCOTLAND bt [20] RUSSIA 4-0 (Martin Heath bt Alexei Severinov 9-1, 9-5, 9-1; Stuart Crawford bt Pavel Sergeev 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Kristen Johnson bt Sergey Kostrikin 9-2, 9-2, 9-1; Harry Gordon Leitch bt Andrey Bratter 9-1, 9-0, 9-0)
Final positions: 1 Scotland, 2 Belgium, 3 Ukraine, 4 Russia

Women's final qualifying rounds - Premier Division Pool A:
[1] ENGLAND bt [5] GERMANY 3-0 (Vicky Botwright bt Karin Beriere 9-1, 9-3, 9-5; Jenny Duncalf bt Kathrin Rohrmueller 9-7, 9-3, 9-5; Alison Waters bt Sandra Kruger 9-2, 9-5, 9-1)
[8] SCOTLAND bt [4] BELGIUM 2-1 (Pamela Nimmo bt Charlie de Rycke 9-2, 9-3, 9-3; Louise Philip lost to Katline Cauwels 6-9, 2-9, 4-9; Frania Gillen-Buchert bt Michou Cauwels 9-6, 9-4, 9-2)
Final positions: 1 England, 2 Scotland, 3 Germany, 4 Belgium

Premier Division Pool B:
[2] NETHERLANDS bt [6] DENMARK 3-0 (Vanessa Atkinson bt Ellen Petersen 9-0, 9-1, 9-1; Annelize Naude bt Ditte Nielsen 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Orla Noom bt Julie Nilsson 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[7] IRELAND bt [3] FRANCE 3-0 (Madeline Perry bt Isabelle Stoehr 6-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-1, 9-7; Aisling Blake bt Celia Allamargot 9-6, 9-1, 9-7; Laura Mylotte bt Laurence Bois 10-9, 9-5, 9-3)
Final positions: 1 Netherlands, 2 Ireland, 3 France, 4 Denmark

Pool C:
[9] SPAIN bt [13] FINLAND 3-0 (Olga Puigdemont Sola bt Lotta Vuorela 10-8, 9-3, 9-0; Margaux Moros-Pitarch bt Elina Kononen 6-9, 9-1, 9-3, 9-4; Elisabet Sado bt Eevamaria Vuolo 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[13] FINLAND bt [12] ITALY 2-1 (Lotta Vuorela lost to Manuela Manetta 8-10, 6-9, 7-9; Elina Kononen bt Evelyn Panizzi 9-1, 9-2, 9-1; Eevamaria Vuolo bt Katiuscia Grossi 9-1, 9-10, 9-5, 9-5)
Final positions: 1 Spain, 2 Finland, 3 Italy

Pool D:
[10] SWITZERLAND bt [14] CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1 (Manuela Zehnder lost to Jana Smeralova 9-4, 9-4, 5-9, 6-9, 3-9; Gaby Schmohl bt Olga Ertlova 9-0, 9-2, 9-6; Olivia Hauser bt Lucie Fialova 9-1, 10-8, 9-3)
[14] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [11] AUSTRIA 2-1 (Jana Smeralova lost to Pamela Pancis 2-9, 5-9, 7-9; Olga Ertlova bt Birgit Coufal 7-9, 9-6, 9-7, 9-6; Lucie Fialova bt Sissi Colli 10-9, 9-2, 10-8)
Final positions: 1 Switzerland, 2 Czech Republic, 3 Austria

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