11 Feb 2018

The reigning champions of the prestigious ETTU Cup will compete in the semi-finals of the Seamaster 2017-2018 Women’s Champions League.

Following a comfortable 1st leg victory away to France’s TT Saint Quentinois, Turkish club Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor put in another dominant performance in the 2nd leg of the quarter-finals tie on Saturday 10th February to extend its stay in the competition.

by Simon Daish

Lee Ho Ching and Hu Melek were both tested in the opening stages of the match as Aurore Le Mansec (5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7) and Cheng Hsien-Tzu (11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6) pushed the Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor duo to the full match distance.

The tie was then brought to a close by Yana Noskova, who saw off Audrey Zarif in four games (11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4) to seal the 3-0 victory.

KTS Tarnobrzeg emerged successful by a 3-1 scoreline on its travels to Austria in the 1st leg of the quarter-finals action and the Polish side achieved the same outcome in the return match as Linz AG Froschberg’s campaign drew to a conclusion.

Mo Zhang handed Linz an early advantage in the 2nd leg following an outstanding display against Elizabeta Samara (5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8) but the lead was soon cancelled out with Tarnobrzeg’s Li Qian proving too strong for Sofia Polcanova on this occasion (11-5, 12-10, 11-9).

The momentum then shifted completely in Tarnobrzeg’s favour as Viktoria Pavlovich accounted for Linda Bergström in straight games (13-11, 11-9, 11-9) before Elizabeta Samara made up for her opening loss, defeating Sofia Polcanova (11-6, 13-11, 11-7) to send the top seeds through to the last four.

Croatia’s Dr. Casl will feature in the penultimate stage of the competition, thanks in part to a class performance from Fu Yu.

The Portuguese star overcame challenges from Agnes Le Lannic (11-7, 11-8, 11-6) and Tamolwan Khetkhuan (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6) in the opening and closing fixtures of the match while there was also a winning display from Zhou Xintong, who also came out on top against Khetkhuan (11-7, 11-8, 11-5).

Szekszard AC put up a brave fight in its 2nd leg tie away to TTC Berlin Eastside, but the Hungarian club’s hard effort wasn’t enough to keep its dreams of reaching the semi-finals alive with the 3-0 defeat suffered in the 1st leg ultimately proving costly.

Polina Mikhailova and Dora Madarasz fired Szekszard to a fantastic start with excellent results against Georgina Pota (7-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6) and Shiho Matsudaira (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4), but a victory for Berlin’s Shan Xiaona over Ruta Paskauskiene (11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6) put the outcome beyond any doubt as the German outfit progressed.

European Champions League: Results and Fixtures

2017-2018 ETTU Champions League Shan Xiaona Yana Noskova Fu Yu