European Finalists Reconvene In Amsterdam

Saturday's climax of the European Team Championships will take on a familiar look when favourites England face second seeds France in the men's final for the sixth successive year, and favourites England meet hosts and No2 seeds Netherlands at the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam in the third women's final in a row.

Defending men's champions England were in impressive form in the 4/0 defeat of third seeds Wales which takes them into the final for the 13th successive year.

Yorkshiremen James Willstrop and Simon Parke struck early blows against their British rivals with straight games victories in the third and fourth strings, respectively. When team-mates Lee Beachill and Peter Nicol, ranked three and four in the world, built up unassailable leads in the matches which followed, the tie became beyond Wales's reach, resulting in both Alex Gough and David Evans, respectively, conceding their efforts.

Not to be outdone, France also secured a 4/0 triumph over hosts Netherlands in the other men's semi-final. World No1 Thierry Lincou recorded his fourth straight games win in the event when he beat Dutch champion Tommy Berden 9-4 9-1 9-0 in the top string clash on the three-sided-glass showcourt at the 21-court centre in Amsterdam.

"Our third and fourth strings Lucas Buit and Marc Reus played particularly well in long battles in the first two matches - but we must now focus ourselves on tomorrow's play-off for third place against Wales," said Dutch team manager Peter Berden.

There were tense moments in the early stages of the two women's semi-finals when England's world No6 Linda Elriani and world No2 Vanessa Atkinson, of the Netherlands, both dropped games in their top string encounters.

Elriani came back from a game down to beat Madeline Perry 8-10 9-6 9-6 9-5 as women's title-holders England defeated seventh seeds Ireland 3/0 - and Atkinson squandered a 2/0 lead before triumphing 10-8 9-0 2-9 9-7 over Pamela Nimmo (to whom she lost in the event 12 months ago) to lead the hosts to a 3/0 victory over eighth seeds Scotland.

In the promotion and relegation battles for next year's Premier Division, Scotland's men made a triumphant return to the top flight by beating Ireland 3/1, then Germany in a 7-6 countback on games, to earn a place in the play-off for fifth place - guaranteeing the 12th seeds the best finish for three years.

Sweden, the 11th seeds, also made sure of an improvement in their 2004 finish in the men's event - surviving two close battles to reach Saturday's play-off against Scotland. It took a 73-67 points countback to separate Sweden from neighbours Finland, and then a 7-6 countback in games to give the Badr Abdel Aziz-led squad the edge over Spain.

Hungary and Czech Republic will meet in the 1st Division final play-off, with the latter sure to achieve the highest finish ever. The Czech women will also claim a best-ever finish after upsetting Italy in the 11th-14th place play-offs.

Men's semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [3] WALES 4-0 (Lee Beachill bt Alex Gough 9-5, 9-1 ret.; Peter Nicol bt David Evans 9-3, 9-0 ret.; James Willstrop bt Ricky Davies 9-3, 9-3, 9-3; Simon Parke bt Jethro Binns 9-0, 9-0, 9-1)
[2] FRANCE bt [4] NETHERLANDS 4-0 (Thierry Lincou bt Tommy Berden 9-4, 9-1, 9-0; Gregory Gaultier bt Laurens Jan Anjema 9-7, 9-4 ret.; Renan Lavigne bt Lucas Buit 9-5, 9-3, 9-6; Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Marc Reus 9-7, 9-3, 9-6)
Men's promotion/relegation finals:
[11] SWEDEN bt [8] FINLAND 2-2 (Sweden win 73-67 on points countback) (Badr Abdel Aziz lost to Olli Tuominen 3-9, 1-9, 4-9; Christian Drakenberg bt Matias Tuomi 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Joakim Karlsson lost to Juha Raumolin 8-10, 0-9, 3-9; Johan Jungling bt Tatu Murronmaa 9-5, 9-4, 9-1)
[6] SPAIN bt [9] DENMARK 3-1 (Borja Golan bt Morten W Sorensen 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Iago Cornes lost to Mads Korsbjerg 6-9, 3-9, 0-9; Constantino Casas bt Michael Frilund 6-9, 9-2, 10-8, 9-7; Albert Codina bt Rene Jepsen 9-1, 9-2, 9-5)
[12] SCOTLAND bt [5] IRELAND 3-1 (John White bt Liam Kenny 9-6, 9-4, 9-4; Martin Heath bt Derek Ryan 9-3, 9-1, 9-1; Stuart Crawford bt Steve Richardson 10-9, 7-9, 9-3, 9-3; Harry Gordon Leitch lost to Niall Rooney 7-9, 6-9, 6-9)
[7] GERMANY bt [10] SWITZERLAND 4-0 (Stefan Leifels bt Marco Datwyler 9-4, 9-0, 9-0; Simon Rosner bt Andre Holderegger 7-9, 9-0, 9-2, 9-0; Johannes Voit bt Kevin Villiger 9-1, 9-6, 9-2; Oliver Post bt Marcel Straub 9-1, 9-4, 9-3)
Men's 5th - 8th place play-offs:
[11] SWEDEN bt [6] SPAIN 2-2 (Sweden win 7-6 on games countback) (Badr Abdel Aziz lost to Borja Golan 5-9, 2-9, 0-9; Christian Drakenberg bt Iago Cornes 9-3, 9-6, 9-0; Joakim Karlsson bt Constantino Casas 9-4, 9-5, 9-7; Johan Jungling lost to Albert Codina 9-4, 1-9, 2-9, 2-9)
[12] SCOTLAND bt [7] GERMANY 2-2 (Scotland win 7-6 on games countback) (John White bt Stefan Leifels 9-4, 9-2, 9-1; Martin Heath bt Simon Rosner 9-5, 10-9, 9-3; Stuart Crawford lost to Johannes Voit 3-9, 1-9, 9-4, 1-9; Kristen Johnson lost to Oliver Post 6-9, 7-9, 1-9)
Men's 9th - 12th place play-offs:
[8] FINLAND bt [9] DENMARK 2-2 (Finland win 8-6 on games countback) (Olli Tuominen bt Mads Korsbjerg 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Matias Tuomi lost to Michael Frilund 8-10, 8-9; Juha Raumolin bt Rene Jepsen 9-5, 9-2, 4-9, 9-7; Erno Teitti lost to Kristian Gross Jeppesen 9-5, 9-6, 1-9, 3-9, 1-9)
[5] IRELAND bt [10] SWITZERLAND 4-0 (Liam Kenny bt Marco Datwyler 9-3, 9-0, 5-9, 9-0; Derek Ryan bt Andre Holderegger 9-2, 9-3, 9-2; Niall Rooney bt Kevin Villiger 1-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-0; Arthur Gaskin bt Benjamin Fischer 9-2, 10-9, 10-9)
Men's 1st Division semi-finals:
[16] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [13] BELGIUM 2-2 (Czech Republic win 10-7 on games countback) (Jan Koukal bt Steve Dries 9-5, 9-2, 9-2; Martin Stepan lost to Wim van Asten 2-9, 0-9, 9-7, 9-5, 4-9; Milos Pokorny lost to Rik Smet 6-9, 9-3, 1-9, 10-8, 5-9; Pavel Sladecek bt Dave de Beule 6-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-2)
[19] HUNGARY bt [15] ISRAEL 4-0 (Mark Krajcsak bt Ilan Oren 9-6, 9-2, 9-3; Andras Torok bt Tomer Noach 9-3, 9-2, 9-0; Sandor Fulop bt Dove Haruzi 9-0, 9-4, 9-5; Shakeel Khan bt Nadav Wilensky 9-5, 9-4, 5-9, 9-4)
Men's 2nd Division semi-finals:
[17] ITALY bt [21] UKRAINE 4-0 (Simone Rocca bt Roman Dolynych 9-2, 9-7, 9-7; Andrea Torricini bt Dmytro Shcherbakov 9-1, 9-2, 9-2; Giacomo Marotta bt Oleksandr Molodukha 9-3, 9-3; Paolo Buglioni bt Ilya Onishko 9-2, 9-0, 9-4)
[14] AUSTRIA bt [18] GREECE 3-1 (Andreas Fuchs bt Fabian Kalaitzis 9-1, 9-0, 9-6; David Sabitzer-Huck lost to Paul Gregory 0-9, 2-9, 9-6, 0-9; Gerhard Schedlbauer bt Petros Tzamaloukas 9-3, 9-2, 9-4; Andreas Freudensprung bt Leonidas Tzakos 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
Men's 19th - 21st place play-offs:
[18] GREECE bt [20] RUSSIA 4-0 (Fabian Kalaitzis bt Alexei Severinov 9-6, 9-0, 9-2; Paul Gregory bt Pavel Sergeev 9-0, 9-4, 9-6; Petros Tzamaloukas bt Sergey Kostrikin 9-2, 9-2, 9-0; Konstantinos Kargiotis bt Andrey Bratter 9-3, 9-3, 9-2)

Women's semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [7] IRELAND 3-0 (Linda Elriani bt Madeline Perry 8-10, 9-6, 9-6, 9-5; Vicky Botwright bt Aisling Blake 9-1, 9-1; Jenny Duncalf bt Laura Mylotte 9-4, 9-0, 9-0)
[2] NETHERLANDS bt [8] SCOTLAND 3-0 (Vanessa Atkinson bt Pamela Nimmo 10-8, 9-0, 2-9, 9-7; Annelize Naude bt Lizzie Leitch 9-0, 9-2; Margriet Huisman bt Frania Gillen-Buchert 9-1, 9-4, 9-7)
Women's promotion/relegation finals:
[5] GERMANY bye
[6] DENMARK bt [10] SWITZERLAND 2-1 (Ellen Petersen bt Manuela Zehnder 9-1, 9-2, 9-2; Line Hansen bt Gaby Schmohl 9-7, 9-3, 9-3; Ditte Nielsen lost to Olivia Hauser 4-9, 9-1, 6-9, 5-9)
[9] SPAIN bt [4] BELGIUM 2-1 (Olga Puigdemont Sola bt Charlie de Rycke 9-6, 9-2, 9-0; Margaux Moros-Pitarch lost to Katline Cauwels 2-9, 1-9; Elisabet Sado bt Michou Cauwels 9-3, 9-2, 9-2)
[3] FRANCE bye
Women's 5th - 8th place play-offs:
[5] GERMANY bt [6] DENMARK 3-0 (Karin Beriere bt Ellen Petersen 3-9, 5-9, 9-6, 9-3, 9-1; Kathrin Rohrmueller bt Line Hansen 9-4, 9-2; Daniela Schumann bt Ditte Nielsen 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-6)
[3] FRANCE bt [9] SPAIN 2-1 (Isabelle Stoehr bt Olga Puigdemont Sola 9-4, 6-9, 9-0, 9-5; Celia Allamargot bt Margaux Moros-Pitarch 9-5, 9-6, 10-8; Maud Duplomb lost to Elisabet Sado 3-9, 1-9, 3-9)
Women's 11th - 14th place play-offs:
[14] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [12] ITALY 3-0 (Jana Smeralova bt Manuela Manetta 8-10, 9-3, 9-1, 9-3; Olga Ertlova bt Evelyn Panizzi 9-3, 9-7; Lucie Fialova bt Katiuscia Grossi 9-4, 1-9, 9-3, 0-9, 9-2)
[11] AUSTRIA bt [13] FINLAND 3-0 (Pamela Pancis bt Lotta Vuorela 9-4, 9-1, 9-4; Birgit Coufal bt Elina Kononen 9-2, 6-9, 9-5, 9-6; Sissi Colli bt Eevamaria Vuolo 8-10, 10-8, 9-6, 9-7)