At the European Games, Kati-Kreet Marran and Helina Ruutel delivered the big surprise making it to the quarter-finals. Now they aim for titles.

Estonia was one of the positive surprises at the European Games 2019 in Minsk. Winning the first ever medal (Raul Must) and having multiple players through to the knock-out stage was a big success for the Estonians.

The Women’s Doubles pair, Kati-Kreet Marran and Helina Ruutel, made it out of the group stage qualifying for the quarter-finals, where the 2018 European Championships runner-ups, Emilie Lefel and Anne Tran, were too strong for the Estonians.

Next: International series titles
In 2019 Marran and Ruutel have won Latvia International and Slovak Open, but this is not enough for the World number 61.

- We are really satisfied with our result. It feels good to be top 8 in Europe, but I hope we still have a lot to show and accomplish, Kati-Kreet Marran said.

- We have not discussed our goals, but we have won two Future Series tournaments, so next up would be International Series. Then I hope we are capable to win a Challenge tournament someday soon.

A big chance for Marran
Marran and Ruutel have been playing together for less than a year. The split up between Kristin Kuuba and Helina Ruutel has given Marran the chance to compete on a higher level, and the 21-year old is happy that she is now playing against the best players in Europe.

- The last year was been a big change for me and Helina. We only had a few months to collect points for European Games, and in the beginning we did not even try to get to the European Games, Marran said.

- The European Games seemed so far out for us, but then we wanted to go all in and travel to as many tournaments as we could before the deadline.

Moving up the ranking

The ranking of the Estonians has been going up week-by-week, and Kati-Kreet Marran believes that the young European Games quarter-finalists will do even better.

- We are trying to reach as high as we can in the world ranking. I short term goal would be Top 50, but of course, we are dreaming to reach higher, Marran said.

- I am a little bit surprised, that we are doing this good, but mostly I am really happy for what we have accomplished in so short time, and that we are climbed so fast in the World Ranking.

This week Marran and Ruutel play the White Nights and later this summer the Estonians will participate in the World Championships in Basel.