The situation in the first part of the tournament at Mladost Sports Park is becoming clearer. In pursuit of the quarterfinals, two Polish teams, Kozminski University and the University School of Physical Education in Wroclaw, have both notched their second wins. Besides them, the French Joseph Fourier University, the University of Innsbruck and Istanbul Aydin University also have the perfect score.
The Wroclaw team have made their second step towards the quarterfinals in Group A, winning the clash against the University of Stirling from Britain 2-1. Konvod Mulavczyk and Szymon Walkow excelled with 6:3, 6:1 against Scott Duncan/Sam M’Neil, ensuring the final victory in the match.
Erasmus University Rotterdam have claimed their first win in the same group, defeating the University of Zagreb 2-1. The team of Zagreb was successful in the first round, but after losing the second they now have a 1-1 win/loss ratio. The Rotterdam team overpowered the Zagreb team, managing to come back from behind after losing the first match. Bart van der Berg won both the second singles match and the decision-making doubles, which he played alongside Stefan de Jorga.
The players of Joseph Fourier University won convincingly against the University of Ljubljana, without even losing a set in all three matches. The Innsbruck players have also had the maximal performance in group B, having won 2:1 against the Technical University of Ostrava. Joseph Fourier and Innsbruck are fighting for the first place in the group on Friday, and Ljubljana and Ostrava can no longer reach the quarterfinals.
In Group C, the Polish Kozminski University, whose best players have not lost a set throughout the tournament, are sweeping the competition. The University of Warsaw players left the University of Coimbra empty-handed in the second round, and with a performance that convincing, everyone in the group can hope only for the second place.
Among them, hopes have risen for the Swiss St. Gallen, who were better than VERN’ University of Applied Sciences from Zagreb in the second match of the day with a score of 2-1. The Swiss did not start as they had hoped to, Goran Bjelajac won the first singles for VERN’, but then Philipp Kahoun took the matters into his own hands, winning his singles match, and then the doubles alongside Claudio Sgarbi.
‘On the first day, we played against the Poles, who were better than us, today we were more confident that we could win. We lost the first singles, but after I won my match, we were warmed up enough to win the doubles and we made it. We are very happy for it,’ said Kahoun after the match.
In Group D, Istanbul, who overpowered the Norwegian University of Science and Technology with three wins without losing a set in the second round, is sure to continue the competition. Unlike the Turkish team, the German University of Mainz have not managed to grasp a second win. The Spanish Camilo José Cela University won 2-1, and it was the doubles that were decision-making, with Emilio Cid Juarez and Pablo Vivero Gonzalez winning the additional tiebreak with the score 10:6.
The last round is being played on Friday, after which all quarterfinalists will be known.
