Yesterday evening we played our last home match in the League and my former club van Zijderveld from Amstelveen was our opponent. Quite unexpectedly it became a big win with a 7-1 score.
In the men’s doubles Chris Bruil was my partner. We made a slow start and we were too passive and consequently we lost the first game with a big difference. In the second game we got a better control although we still played too defensively. In all 3 games I have smashed 5 times at the most. On the other side of the net Lester Oey and Robin Tabeling, our opponents, were smashing like hell but they didn’t manage to really get through our defence. So the second and third game could be decided in our favour without getting at risk.
On the other court the ladies doubles was also won, in 2 games. After the two men’s singles had been won by Duinwijck and also Akvile Stapusaityte had decided her ladies single in her favour we had taken a very comfortable lead. In the second ladies singles substitute Annemiek Groenewoud did her utmost versus Alida Chen. Especially in the second game she offered good resistance but she couldn’t keep Alida from scoring a point for van Zijderveld which at the end turned out to be the only one.
The mixed doubles of Eva Krab and myself versus Norbert van Barneveld en Georgy van Soerland was not exactly spectacular. There were hardly any rallies and half way in both games we had a comfortable lead. With two times 21-14 we won this match. On the other court the confrontation between Betty Timmerman and Chris Bruil and Elisa Piek and Robin Tabeling was much more interesting. After having lost the first game Betty and Chris got a better focus and won the second game. The decisive third game still became an exciting one but the Duinwijck pair finally drew the longest straw.
So a 7-1 win but it didn’t effect the score in the League very much. Duinwijck is still third and will travel to Hoensbroek next week with a severely battered team for the last regular match versus Victoria. A number of my team members as well as myself will then be in Estonia for the first EBU tournament of this season. Next Thursday we’ll fly from Schiphol to Tallinn via Frankfurt. Last year it was extremely cold in this former Soviet country and, to be honest, I hope for a nice sunny 25 Celsius this time but I am afraid I will be disappointed.
This is going to be the first tournament with my new mixed doubles partner Samantha Barning. During the trainings in the past weeks we played some very good matches together and I am really looking forward to playing an international tournament again after 2 months of purely training at Papendal. You may follow the Estonia International at www.tournamentsoftware.com and naturally I will try to keep you informed via my site and Twitter!