Davies through to semi-final in Czech Open

DAVIES Robert GBR 1_MG_1194 Czech OpenParalympic champion Rob Davies is through to the semi-finals of the men’s class 1 singles at the Czech Open in Ostrava tomorrow. The 33 year old Welshman came from 2-1 down to beat the Argentinian Fernando Eberhardt 3-2 in his final group match to secure top place in his group. He will play Federico Falco, the young Italian who beat Davies in the German Open in June, for a place in the final.

With a number of Europe’s leading players taking the opportunity for some match practice ahead of the European Championships later this month it was a tough day for the young British players from the Pathway and Development squads.

HENRY Ryan GBR_MG_1255 Czech OpenRyan Henry did well to progress from his group in men’s class 8 with wins against Dorel Muresan from Romania 3-1 and Lukas Maxa from Czech Republic 3-0 before understandably finding the former Paralympic and World champion Mathieu Loicq from Belgium too experienced in their last 16 match.

Lucie Bouron started with a 3-1 win against Foteini Bousiou from Greece in the women’s class 3 singles and finished third in the round-robin event after losses to the World number four Andela Muzinic and her fellow Croatian Helena Dretar, the World number 10.

In men’s class 5 Dan Bullen lost to Claudiomiro Segatto from Brazil, the World number 12, (0-3) and Elias Romero from Argentina (1-3) but fought back from 2-0 down against Milos Tesar from Czech Republic to win 3-2 and claim third place in his group. Alex Bland also recorded a win in men’s class 7 – 3-1 against Maksym Chudsicki from Poland 3-1 – and finished third in his group after 3-0 losses to Daniel Horut from the Czech Republic and Hiromoto Kita frim Japan.

Jack Stockdale defeated Ahmed Almutairi from Saudi Arabia 3-0 but a 3-0 loss to the World number nine Ivan Karabec from Czech Republic left him needing to beat the Italian Lorenzo Cordua in his final match to progress. He made a good start, taking the first set 12-10 but a 3-1 loss left him in third place in the group. Shae Thakker finished fourth in the other men’s class 10 group after losing in four close sets to Dario Neira from Argentina.

Conor McAdam had a tough group in men’s class 6, which included the World number 6 Pavao Jozic from Croatia, and Craig Allen was also knocked out at the group stages in men’s class 9 after losses to Pawel Konstantyn from Poland and Barnabas Retter from Hungary.