Top Seeds Vault First Hurdles But Hosts Poland Spring Surprise

The leading nations safely vaulted their first hurdles on day one of the 2025 European Team Championships in Wroclaw in Poland - with just a couple of exceptions.

Whilst there were victories for all of the top four seeds in men's Division 1 including last year's finalists England and France, there was a surprise defeat for third seeds Wales in women's Pool C at the famous 33-court Hasta La Vista club.

Tesni Murphy, the world no.21, was absent as Wales fell 2/1 to hosts Poland. Although Wales's stand-in no.1 Lowri Roberts put an early win on the board by beating Karina Tyma in five, the host nation hit back through teenagers Sofiia Zrazhevska and Natalia Mierzejwska. Later in the day, however, Poland lost 2/1 to 6th seeds Switzerland to leave the pool evenly balanced.

Elsewhere, defending champions Belgium coasted past Germany 3/0 in Pool A, 42-time winners England quickly saw off Finland in Pool B and Camille Serme enjoyed her comeback as France beat Denmark 3/0 in Pool D. Scotland also beat Denmark 3/0 later in the day.

In the day's first session, defending men's champions England took on cross-border rivals Scotland in Pool A, with last year's European junior champion Jonah Bryant making his senior debut.

In doing so, Bryant becomes the youngest player to represent England since James Willstrop's debut in the 2003 ETC in Nottingham - and on that debut Willstrop played Scotland's Stuart Crawford, who is now England's head coach!

The 19-year-old Bryant beat Rory Stewart in four games and was ably supported by Mohamed ElShorbagy, Curtis Malik and Tom Walsh (a last-minute stand-in for the injured Declan James) as the 44-time champions won 4/0.

"I made my debut as a player against England back in 2003, so it feels like I've come full circle to now be coaching England against Scotland," said Crawford. "It's definitely more enjoyable when you're on the winning side! It was great for Jonah to get his England career off to a winning start."

Scotland were on court again not long after, facing Ireland in what turned out to be a tremendous encounter. World no.18 Greg Lobban was pushed to five games by Sam Buckley at no.1 string, and although Rory Stewart won rapidly at no.2, former Tour player Alan Clyne had to dig very deep indeed to see off Michael Creaven in four. Sean Conroy got a win on the board for Ireland at fourth string. England face Ireland on Thursday.

In Pool B, three-time winners and second seeds France got off to a pleasing start with a 4/0 win over Hungary. Czechia also beat Hungary 4-0 so Thursday's France-Czechia clash will decide top spot.

Victor Crouin, who beat Hungary's Farkas Balazs in straight games, reflected: "We were excited to get on court and get going because we haven't played together since December [at the World Team Championships in Hong Kong]. It's great to be wearing the France jersey again. We're not used to playing at 10am so we really had to be on our A game, which fortunately I was."

Elsewhere, third seeds Switzerland and fourth seeds Wales also got off to winning starts. The Swiss saw off Israel 4/0 and Spain also beat Israel later in the day in Pool C. For Wales, there was a routine 4/0 victory against Belgium in Pool D in which 17-year-old Maddox Moxham had the valuable experience of playing in-form world no.5 Joel Makin, losing 11-4 11-4 11-5.

In Division 2, the two men's top seeds Sweden and the Netherlands both won their opening two pool matches, but there was a surprise 3/1 defeat for Denmark against Austria in Pool A in what was one of the closest ties of the day.

Three of the four matches went to five games and the other match was a four-setter with two tiebreaks! Jakob Dirnberger, who is 45 next week and is playing in his 21st European Team Championships, got the clinching victory for the Danes, after losing a 2/0 lead.

"My heart rate is in the red zone!" he joked. "For me personally this tournament is the absolute highlight. I've met so many friends from all over Europe and to see them once a year is really nice."

In women's Division 2, top seeds the Netherlands beat Italy 2/1 and Romania 3/0 and will be favourites to overcome Norway on Thursday to finish top of Pool A.

Ukraine sit atop Pool B following 3/0 wins over Slovenia and Portugal and will hope to finish the task of reaching the quarter-finals tomorrow against Ireland, who also won both their opening matches.

Ukraine no.1 Alina Bushma, who is based in Philadelphia, said: "We have a great team this year. I think we can get to the final and win the second division! Last time I played with my team-mates was in 2018. This brings back some memories back and being together is super fun."