What a turnaround and what a cool mind Stina Källberg had when it all came together in the decisive match against the Spaniard Sofia-Xuan Zhang. Could Sweden be grouped first in the women’s group H? After Zhang raced away to 11-4 to 2-2 in the fourth set, many were wondering – and a little hesitant. But in inspite all, Stina showed herself from her very best side. Opened with 3–0, had 5–1 at the change of sides and pulled away to a magnificent 11–2.
It meant 3-2 for Sweden, who will have to wait for Tuesday evening’s draw and the announcement of which group second awaits in the European Round of 16.
– I didn’t want to lose and disappoint anyone in the crowd. This is really nice, Stina summed up the Monday match, which had lasted two hours and 47 minutes.
And Stina, who bounced back after going scoreless against Maria Xiao in the second match, added:
– Now we are aiming for our second goal, to make it to the quarter-finals.
Linda Bergström, who had started by turning 7–10 to 12–10 in the tie against Sofia-Xuan Zhang, could only praise Stina:
– I thought she would win the decisive match. But it was about not getting stressed. And it wasn’t Stina. Impressive.
1–3 after 11–4 in the first
Linda was not enough against Maria Xiao, falling 1–3 after 11–4 in the first set in game four. –
– Unfortunately, she had to play against my forehand the whole time.
In the match before, Filippa Bergand showed for the second day in a row that she is the right third in the team. She rallied 11–2, 11–4, 11–7 against Jana Riera after defeating Greece’s Papadimitriou 11–2, 11–4, 11–5 on Sunday. No set loss so far in a team EC and Filippa noted:
– We are growing as a team, it feels good.
Captain Tobias Bergman had the last words:
– Stina was good in the third set and I saw that she was getting into the match more and more. My feeling was that she would have a good chance to win.
EC, ladies group H
Sweden-Spain 3–2
Linda Bergström-Sofia-Xuan Zhang 8–11, 8–11, 11–7, 11–8, 12–10
Stina Källberg-Maria Xiao 7–11, 9–11, 5–11
Flippa Bergand-Jana Riera 11–2, 11–4, 11–7
Bergström-Maria Xiao 11–5, 7–11, 4–11, 8–11
Källberg-Sofia-Xuan Zhang 11–9, 8–11, 11–5, 4–11, 11–2
Photo: Manfred Schillings/SBTF