Mueller & Serme On Course For European Junior Success
2 Apr 2007
Top seeds Nicolas Mueller and Camille Serme are on course for success in the European Junior U19 Championships after convincing straight games wins in the quarter-finals in Herentals, Belgium.
Swiss favourite Mueller, 17, from Hirzel, near Zurich, despatched England's 5/8 seed Tom Pashley 9-0, 9-2, 9-2 and will now face another Englishman for a place in Tuesday's men's final.
Oliver Pett caused a notable upset when he beat Denmark's 3/4 seed Kristian Frost Olesen 9-1, 6-9, 9-2, 9-1 to claim an unexpected place in the last four. The 18-year-old from Billingshurst in Sussex, a 5/8 seed, will now take the top seed - hoping that he will be able to repeat his shock victory over Mueller in January's British Junior U19 Open.
British National Junior champion Adrian Waller, the No2 seed, booked his place in the semi-finals with a 7-9, 9-4, 9-1, 9-6 win over Dutchman Sander Kock, a 5/8 seed. The 17-year-old from Enfield will now face compatriot Joe Lee in a repeat of February's British Junior U19 final. Lee, a 3/4 seed from Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, crushed Frenchman Gregoire Marche 9-7, 9-1, 9-0.
Camille Serme, the 17-year-old defending women's champion from Creteil in France, defeated England's 5/8 seed Sarah-Jane Perry 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 and will take on her anticipated opponent Sina Wall in the semis. But the 3/4 seed from Germany was taken to five games in her quarter-final by 5/8 seed Victoria Bell before beating her English opponent 10-8, 4-9, 9-2, 7-9, 9-4.
Kimberley Hay caused the biggest upset in the women's event when she dismissed second seed Lucie Fialova, from the Czech Republic, 4-9, 10-8, 9-3, 9-4 in the third round. In the quarter-finals, the 15-year-old 9/16 seed from Newcastle-upon-Tyne claimed the scalp of Gabrielle de Lavison, beating the 5/8 seed from France 9-6, 10-8, 9-5.
Hay, a former British U13 and U15 champion, now faces fellow countrywoman Victoria Lust for a place in the final. Lust, the British Junior U19 champion from Bedfordshire who is a 3/4 seed, beat Germany's Astrid Kern 9-7, 9-0, 9-5 to earn her semi-final place.
Men's quarter-finals:
[1] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [5/8] Tom Pashley (ENG) 9-0, 9-2, 9-2
[5/8] Oliver Pett (ENG) bt [3/4] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 9-1, 6-9, 9-2, 9-1
[3/4] Joe Lee (ENG) bt [5/8] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 9-7, 9-1, 9-0
[2] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt [5/8] Sander Kock (NED) 7-9, 9-4, 9-1, 9-6
Women's quarter-finals:
[1] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [5/8] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 9-2, 9-2, 9-2
[3/4] Sina Wall (GER) bt [5/8] Victoria Bell (ENG) 10-8, 4-9, 9-2, 7-9, 9-4
[3/4] Victoria Lust (ENG) bt [9/16] Astrid Kern (GER) 9-7, 9-0, 9-5
[9/16] Kimberley Hay (ENG) bt [5/8] Gabrielle de Lavison (FRA) 9-6, 10-8, 9-5