Against Portugal
Sofia Polcanova wins and advances to the round of 16
European table tennis champion Sofia Polcanova has reached the round of 16 at the Olympic singles tournament in Paris and is therefore guaranteed at least ninth place, as in Tokyo 2021. The 29-year-old defeated Portugal's Jieni Shao 4:2 (-10,9,7,3,-12,7) in the final session of the day in the "Paris South" arena on Monday.
Polcanova will play the winner of Tuesday's match between Romania's Bernadette Szöcsz and Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Polcanova increased her head-to-head lead against the Chinese-born Shao to 5:3. The last time the two had met, the Iberian had prevailed at the World Team Championships, before which Polcanova had been victorious in the Champions League. This time, Austria's number one got off to a good start. After trailing 0:2, Polcanova led 8:2 in the first set, but Shao came close, fended off a set point with a net ball a little later and converted her first. Polcanova equalized with her first set point after an equally close set.
From then on, things went better for Austria's only remaining table tennis player at these matches, after Daniel Habesohn had been eliminated from the men's singles tournament in the morning. With 11:7 and 11:3, Polcanova took a 3:1 lead in sets, although her concentration was put to the test by the cheers of the French crowd. On the next table, local hero Alexis Lebrun claimed a celebrated victory. After this match, things quietened down in the hall, but Polcanova was unable to close the bag for the time being.
Two match points unused
The world no. 23 missed two match points in the fifth set, Shao used her second to make it 2:3. She will definitely be up against a good friend in the next round. Szöcs, the number five seed, is the number 15 of the 2022 European doubles champion in Munich. Szöcs is ranked tenth in the world and would therefore be at least slightly favored going into the match. Polcanova played with Pesotska for a while at Linz AG Froschberg.
Singles, 2nd round:
Sofia Polcanova (AUT-15) - Jieni Shao (POR) 4:2 (-10,9,7,3,-12,7)
Round of 16:
Polcanova - Bernadette Szöcs (ROU-5) or Margaryta Pesotska (UKR)
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