Wales Shock France To Earn Maiden Appearance In European Junior Final
4 Apr 2010
Wales earned their first ever appearance in the final of the European Junior U19 Team Championship in the European Squash Federation event's 27-year history when they beat second seeds and five-time finalists France in the semi-finals in the Austrian capital Vienna.
The newly-crowned men's European Junior champion Lucas Serme put France ahead in the tie with a straight games win over Welsh number one David Haley.
But courageous performances by Sam Fenwick and Tesni Evans - Fenwick stemming a fightback by Paul Bonabesse to beat the 18-year-old Frenchman 12-10 in the fifth game - helped Wales celebrate their historic final achievement.
Wales will face top seeds England, who maintained their run of 3/0 wins in the event to beat third seeds Czech Republic without dropping a game. England are now just one win away from their 24th European Junior Team title.
A win over France in the third-place play-off would give Czech Republic their highest finish ever.
Slovakia have much to celebrate after earning a place in the play-off for 13th place in their maiden appearance in the event.
Hungary can also claim to be one of the surprises of the tournament after earning a place in the play-off for 9th place as 18th seeds after a 2/1 victory over hosts Austria.
Semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [3] CZECH REPUBLIC 3/0
Ben Coleman bt Daniel Mekbib 13-11, 11-6, 11-5
Charles Sharpes bt Ondrej Uherka 11-5, 11-3
Carrie Ramsey bt Anna Klimundova 11-6, 11-6, 11-2
[5] WALES bt [2] FRANCE 2/1
David Haley lost to Lucas Serme 2-11, 5-11, 8-11
Sam Fenwick bt Paul Bonabesse 13-11, 11-5, 2-11, 7-11, 12-10
Tesni Evans bt Melissa Alves 11-9, 13-11, 11-7
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[4] GERMANY bt [7] NETHERLANDS 2/1
Rudi Rohrmuller bt Rick Penders 12-10, 11-4, 11-5
Philip Riedl bt Tim van der Pluijm 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6
Franziska Hennes lost to Ilona Lagerweij 11-4, 11-6, 3-11, 11-13, 9-11
[6] SWITZERLAND bt [9] BELGIUM 3/0
Lukas Burkhart bt Tom de Mulder 11-5, 6-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-6
Dominik Penkov bt Georgy Beeckman 11-5, 11-6
Agapi Kazamia bt Nathalie Philipsen 12-10, 11-2, 11-6
9th - 12th place play-offs:
[8] SCOTLAND bt [11] IRELAND 2/1
Greg Lobban lost to Gary Power 11-6, 10-12, 5-11, 2-11
Douglas Kempsell bt Theodore Anderson 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 13-11
Morgan McGuire bt Cathryn Abernethy 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9
[18] HUNGARY bt [14] AUSTRIA 2/1
Benedek Sebok bt Marcus Greslehner 12-10, 11-7, 6-11, 2-11, 11-5
Ramon Gubi bt Manuel Kurzwell 11-3, 11-8, 11-3
Fatime Farkas lost to Sandra Polak 15-13, 4-11, 11-7, 6-11, 3-11
13th - 16th place play-offs:
[10] SLOVAKIA bt [13] SPAIN 3/0
Miroslav Celler bt Hugo Varela Campo 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4
David Kubicek bt Aitor Zunzunegui 15-13, 9-11, 11-4
Andrea Malinova bt Sara Esperon 11-9, 11-9, 11-5
[17] FINLAND bt [12] DENMARK 3/0
Ville Hiltunen bt Philip Tran 11-8, 11-8, 11-6
Joonas Honkanen bt Kristian de Silva Nielsen 11-1, 11-8
Emilia Soini bt Amalie Bornaes 4-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-9, 11-7
