In just one week, the journey to crown the champions of Europe will begin. All eyes will be on Kyiv, Ukraine and here are the biggest matchups we can already look forward to.
The draws for all five categories of the 2021 European Championships were made today ahead of the continental championships taking place from 27 April to 2 May.
Men’s singles
Reigning champion from 2018 and world number two, Viktor Axelsen, is gearing up to pick up his third European Championship gold. He will first face off against Czech Republic’s Milan Ludik who is currently outside of Olympic qualification and in need of points.
The 2019 European Games gold medallist, Anders Antonsen, on the other side of the draw, hopes to meet his fellow Dane in the final, setting up a third clash between the two this year. Antonsen will be up against Germany’s Kai Schaefer. Their last and only clash was five years ago now, with the match going to three.
France and Russia had an epic battle in the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships semifinal. The men’s singles draw throws up a mini-revival of this rivalry. The 2019 European Games silver medallist, Brice Leverdez is seeded sixth and will meet Sergey Sirant, who aims to consolidate his Olympic qualification position. The two met at the 2017 European Championships and it went the distance.
The other Russian fighting for points is Vladimir Malkov. Standing in his way in Kyiv is the eighth seed, Thomas Rouxel. Malkov leads the head-to-head 4-1, however, Rouxel was the winner last time at the Italian International 2018.
A man motivated to deliver a performance of his career is Ukrainian singles star and Centre of Excellence (CoE) player, Artem Pochtarov. He will play either Finland’s Eetu Heino or fellow CoE player, Milan Dratva of Slovakia, whom he has not actually played competitively before. Although, he has a clean record against Heino, including their three-game battle at the 2018 European Championships.
View the full men’s singles draw here.
Women’s singles
Due to the late withdrawal of Russia’s third seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya, silver medallist in 2018, the seeding for women’s singles has been updated. Belgium’s Lianne Tan moves up to eighth seed.
Spain’s Carolina Marin is eyeing up an extraordinary record of five consecutive golds as the number one seed. She would also equal Peter Gade’s five titles, taking her to legendary heights. She begins her campaign against Belarusian Anastasiya Cherniavskaya.
In the running to try and spoil Marin’s run, the 2019 European Games gold medallist, Mia Blichfeldt, faces a potential early banana skin against her compatriot, Julie Dawall Jakobsen. Both came up through the juniors together and despite Blichfeldt edging a 3-2 head-to-head, they haven’t played since 2015, but significantly the last one went to Jakobsen.
Kirsty Gilmour, two-time European silver medallists and silver medallist at the 2019 European Games will face an old foe in the Swiss star, Sabrina Jaquet. They have played 10 times and shared the podium at the 2017 European Games and also battled in the the 2019 European Games quarterfinals. Only one of them will have the chance to make it that far this time.
The Ukrainian singles star, Maria Ulitina will have to make it past the seventh seed Line Christophersen if she is to continue her quest for glory at home.
View the full women’s singles draw here.
Men’s doubles
The reigning champions, Kim Astrup/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, have rediscovered their form just in time for their title defence. In round two, they will have an opening match against either Ukraine’s Glib Beketov/ Mykhaylo Makhnovskiy or Spain’s Joan Monroy/ Carlos Piris. If successful, a potential repeat clash against the eighth-seeded Popov brothers will be the quarterfinal.
The second-seeded English pair of Marcus Ellis/ Chris Langridge bring a lot of experience and will face either Estonia’s Kristjan Kaljurand/ Raul Käsner or the bright French talents, Fabien Delrue/ William Villeger.
England also has a strong second claim with Ben Lane/ Sean Vendy, who reached the World Tour Finals semifinal in January and recently took home the Orleans Masters title. If the seeds follow form, then a potential attractive quarterfinal matchup will be against Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss/ Marvin Seidel. England managed to score a 24-22, 22-20 win in the only match between them at the Denmark Open 2020.
View the full men’s doubles draw here.
Women’s doubles
Following the reign of Christinna Pedersen/ Kamilla Rytter Juhl, the Bulgarian Stoeva sisters embraced the position of being the queens of Europe and come to Kyiv as strong favourites to retain their crown. They begin their defence against either Estonia’s Kati-Kreet Marran/ Helina Rüütel or Russia’s Viktoriia Kozyreva/ Mariia Sukhova.
Looking ahead, two tough Danish pairs in seventh seeds Amalie Magelund/ Freja Ravn and third seeds Maiken Fruergaard/ Sara Thygesen are lurking on the Bulgarian’s side of the draw.
The fourth-seeded Dutch duo of Selena Piek/ Cheryl Seinen are the 2019 European Games champions and will have a guaranteed tough challenge in their first match. They will face either Scotland’s Julie Macpherson/ Ciara Torrance or Russia’s Anastasiia Akchurina/ Olga Morozova.
View the full women’s doubles draw here.
Mixed doubles
Top seeds Marcus Ellis/ Lauren Smith took gold in Minsk at the 2019 European Games and kick things off in Kyiv against either the Finnish-Czech combinations of Anton Kaisti/ Alžběta Bášová or the Austrians Dominik Stipsits/ Serena Au Yeong. One eye would be however on the potential quarterfinal clash against fourth seeds Mathias Christiansen/ Alexandra Bøje, who defeated them in the semifinal at the Swiss Open just last month.
The new French sensations, Thom Gicquel/ Delphine Delrue, who have been in scintillating form of late, have a strong chance for something special and prove that they are the best in Europe. There is a chance that their first matchup will be against their teammates, Eloi Adam/ Margot Lambert, who face Ireland’s Paul Reynolds/ Rachael Darragh in round one.
The experienced Ukrainian star, Valeriy Atrashchenkov, will play with Yelyzaveta Zharka against the eighth seeds Ronan Labar/ Anne Tran, who will be giving it everything in their last tournament together.
View the full mixed doubles draw here.
Excited?