by Ian Marshall, Editor

At the semi-final stage a 3-1 win was recorded in opposition to the no.4 seeds, the Hungarian partnership of Dorottya Tolgyes and Kira Balogh; mainstay of the success was Elena Zaharia.

Impressively, the 14 year old accounted for Kira Balogh (11-4, 11-6, 14-12), before bringing the fixture to a conclusion by overcoming Dorottya Tolgyes (15-13, 11-3, 11-5), having in the third match of the engagement joined forces with Ioanna Singeorzan to secure the doubles (11-5, 11-6, 11-6).

A comprehensive win, the victory in the final was even more comprehensive; a 3-0 win was recorded against the Russian duo comprising Svetlana Dmitrienko and Alina Zavarykina, the no.6 seeds.

Ioanna Singeorzan set her team on the road to victory by beating Alina Zavarykina (11-9, 11-7, 4-11, 11-9), before Elena Zaharia accounted for Svetlana Dmitrienko (5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8) and a doubles success (12-10, 11-7, 11-9) secured the title.

In the opposite half of the draw, in the penultimate round Svetlana Dmitrienko and Alina Zavarykina had caused an upset of note. They posted a 3-1 success in opposition to the Polish outfit, the no.2 seeds, represented by Anna Brzyska, Ilona Szwiertnia and Zuzanna Wiegler. Backbone of the victory was Alina Zavarykina. She beat both Anna Brzyska (11-7, 11-6, 11-4) and Ilona Szwiertnia (11-7, 11-5, 11-8).

Play in Hodonin concludes on Sunday 17th February with the cadet boys’ singles, cadet girls’ singles, cadet boys’ doubles and cadet girls’ doubles events.