Korbel shatters Persson's dream

BREMEN, MAY 1. Swede Jorgen Persson's dream of a second European singles championship ended in a quarterfinal defeat by unfancied Czech Petr Korbel on Sunday.

The World No. 6 and 1991 World champion lost 21-15, 18-21, 17-21, 16-21 and needed treatment to his shoulder during the second game. Persson was the only player who had reached the last eight without dropping a game.

Korbel, whose only major result was fourth place at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, will next meet another Swede Peter Karlsson.

Karlsson, 1996 European championship bronze medallist, reached the semifinals by eliminating France's Patrick Chila 21- 16, 13- 21, 22-20, 32-30. Karlsson needed eight match points to nail his opponent in the marathon fourth game.

Chila, who had won the doubles title with Jean- Philippe Gatien after playing three rounds earlier, looked exhausted.

The second Swede into the semifinals was former European, World and 1992 Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner, who overcame Belgian Philippe Saive 11-21, 21-15, 21-15, 25-23.

Waldner's last-four rival will be Croatian Zoran Primorac, who defeated Poland's Lucjan Blaszczyk 7-21, 21-19, 11- 21, 21-16, 21-18.

Ni Xia Lian's hopes of retaining the women's title for Luxembourg were ended by Germany's Jie Schoepp in a 21-18, 18-21, 21-19, 21- 19 quarterfinal battle.

``I have won against Schoepp so many times that I was sure of turning the match around,'' said Ni. ``I'm so tired and just not hungry enough for victory.''

Schoepp will meet another Chinese-born German, top seed and World No. 5 Qianhong Gotsch, in the semifinals. Gotsch beat Romanian- born German Olga Nemes 21-9, 21-7, 21-16.

Romanian Mihaela Steff knocked out German second seed, Chinese- born Jing Tian-Zoerner, 21-16, 21-17, 21-15. She plays Croatia's Tamara Boros, a 21-15, 22-20, 16-21, 21-13 winner over Austria's Liu Jia.

Earlier, Patrick Chila and Jean-Philippe Gatien swept aside three successive sets of opponents to give France the doubles title.

The French pair comfortably won their quarterfinal and semifinal matches before a 21-15, 21-12 win in the final over Greek Kalinikos Kreanga and Yugoslav Ilija Lupulescu.

Hungary's Csilla Batorfi and Krisztina Toth won the women's doubles for a second time by beating Ni Xia Lian and Peggy Regenwetter of Luxembourg 21-13, 20-22, 21-14.

Batorfi, the 1986 singles European champion, also won gold in the doubles in 1990 and 1988.

Chila and Gatien dropped only a single game in the three matches, in the quarterfinal against Germany's Joerg Rosskopf and Steffen Fetzner. ``That was our toughest match and we had a lot of luck at the end. This is a special day for France,'' said European No. 7 Gatien. ``It was an important victory because it means we will have a good seeding for the Olympics.''

Silver medallists Kreanga and Lupulescu put out Sweden's 1996 champions Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson in the quarterfinals before thrashing Austrians Karl Jindrak and Werner Schlager 21- 12, 21-13. Kreanga and Lupulescu were each previous European doubles champions but with different partners, in 1990 and 1994 respectively.

The results:

Men's singles (quarterfinals): Petr Korbel bt Jorgen Persson 15- 21, 21-18, 21-17, 21-16; Peter Karlsson bt Patrick Chila 21-16, 13-21, 22-20, 32-30; Jan-Ove Waldner bt Philippe Saive 11-21, 21- 15, 21-15, 25-23; Zoran Primorac bt Lucjan Blaszczyk 7-21, 21-19, 11-21, 21-16, 21-18.

Women's quarterfinals: Jie Schoepp bt Ni Xia Lian 21-18, 18-21, 21-19, 21-19; Qianhong Gotsch bt Olga Nemes 21-9, 21-7, 21-16; Mihaela Steff bt Jing Tian-Zoerner 21- 16, 21-17, 21-15; Tamara Boros bt Liu Jia 21-15, 22-20, 16-21, 21-13.

Men's doubles final: Patrick Chila/Jean- Philippe Gatien bt Kalinikos Kreanga/Ilija Lupulescu 21-15, 21- 12.

Women's doubles final: Csilla Batorfi/Krisztina Toth bt Ni Xia Lian/Peggy Regenwetter 21-13, 20-22, 21-14.

- Reuters

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : West Indies calls up Sarwan
Next     : Belgium enters final phase