England To Face France In European Junior Final In Brussels

The top two seeds England and France will contest the final of the European Junior U19 Team Championships in Brussels, Belgium.

Favourites England maintained their clean sheet throughout the event by beating defending champions Germany, to whom they lost the title for the first time in 20 years last year.

Surrey's Joe Lee led the way in the semi-finals with a 9-4, 9-2, 9-0 win over Germany's Florian Silbernagl. When Lee's team-mate Adrian Waller, from Enfield, beat Carsten Schoor 9-4, 9-0, 9-5, England's place in the final was assured. But in the best-of-three final rubber, Bedfordshire's Victoria Lust defeated Astrid Kern 9-6, 9-2 to make it 3/0.

Second seeds France reached the final for the fourth time since 1993 after overcoming fourth seeds Netherlands 2/1. Gregoire Marche put France into the lead with a 9-6, 9-3, 9-5 win over Sander Kock - but the Dutch team hit back when Bastiaan Meulenbelt beat Florent Pontiere 9-2, 9-3, 9-3.

France's newly-crowned European individual champion Camille Serme saved the day with a fine 9-1, 9-2, 9-6 win over Milou van der Heijden to clinch the place in the final.

Semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [3] GERMANY 3-0
Joe Lee bt Florian Silbernagl 9-4, 9-2, 9-0
Adrian Waller bt Carsten Schoor 9-4, 9-0, 9-5
Victoria Lust bt Astrid Kern 9-6, 9-2

[2] FRANCE bt [4] NETHERLANDS 2-1
Gregoire Marche bt Sander Kock 9-6, 9-3, 9-5
Florent Pontiere lost to Bastiaan Meulenbelt 2-9, 3-9, 3-9
Camille Serme bt Milou van der Heijden 9-1, 9-2, 9-6

5th - 8th place play-offs:
[7] WALES bt [5] SWITZERLAND 2-1
Alistair Mutch lost to Nicolas Mueller 2-9, 4-9, 0-9
Hywel Robinson bt Reiko Peter 9-6, 10-8, 9-1
Natalie Pritchard bt Jasmin Ballman 0-9, 9-5, 9-1, 10-8

[8] DENMARK bt [6] CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1
Kristian Frost Olesen bt Petr Martin 9-6, 9-6, 8-9, 9-2
Casper Grauballe bt Lukas Jelinek 3-9, 0-9, 10-8, 9-1, 9-7
Sally Skarrenborg lost to Lucie Fialova 5-9, 1-9

9th - 12th place play-offs:
[9] FINLAND bt [11] SCOTLAND 3-0
Henrik Mustonen bt Lyall Paterson 9-5, 9-3, 9-0
Pyry Poikolainen bt Kevin Moran 9-8, 9-3, 3-9, 9-2
Laura Aalto-Setala bt Robyn Hodgson 7-9, 9-6, 9-2

[12] SPAIN bt [10] BELGIUM 2-1
Pedro Espeleta bt Mats Raemen 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-5
Diego Lopez bt Sam van Brusselen 3-9, 9-2, 9-8, 4-9, 9-3
Carla Fernandez Vazquez lost to Elodie Mahieu 3-9, 2-9

13th - 16th place play-offs:
[13] ISRAEL bt [15] SWEDEN 2-1
Ido Avron bt Pontus Olsson 10-8, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4
Ariel Lewis lost to Johan Detter 2-9, 5-9, 7-9
Mor Berkovsky bt Matilda Ravn-Holm 9-5, 9-5, 8-10, 9-2

[14] IRELAND bye