In the lead up to the 2021 European Championships next week, we take a closer look at each category, discussing which players will be in the mix for the medals.
Carolina Marin could make history and become the first player to win five consecutive championships. Several players would love to spoil the party, and with news that 2018 silver and bronze medallists, Mia Blichfeldt and Evgeniya Kosetskaya, not being present, the door has opened wide for new medal contenders.
Ukraine’s Natalya Voytsekh has an interesting outside chance to set up what would be a memorable quarterfinal with Carolina Marin on her home court. Voytsekh is 125 in the world, however, the draw has thrown up a potential route through the first two rounds against lower-ranked opponents in Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann and Portugal’s Sonia Goncalves.
In round three, sixth seed Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt is likely to be waiting. Fascinatingly, their only encounter in singles against each other resulted in a win for the Ukrainian. However, this was way back in the 2012 European Women’s Team Championships quarterfinal.
France vs Germany
In the harshest opening matchup of the draw, the French number one will take on the German number one. It will be the fourth meeting between France’s Qi Xuefei and Germany’s Yvonne Li. Qi leads the head-to-head 2-1, however, third-seeded Li has been playing well of late, making it to the final of the SaarLorLux Open 2020 and will be hoping to go a step further than her quarterfinal in 2018.
Sixth seed Yeslihan Yigit of Turkey is the most likely opponent in the quarterfinal. Yigit bowed out to Li in 2018, so would savour the opportunity to strike back. However, Yigit’s round three match in Kyiv is not a given. Bulgaria’s Mariya Mitsova is hunting Olympic qualification points and will battle with Russia’s Natalia Perminova for the opportunity to play on Thursday.
CoE success
The Dutch Centre of Excellence player, Gayle Mahulette, will be awaiting the winner between Sweden’s Rebecca Kuhl and Spain’s Clara Azurmendi in round two. Mahulette would in fact not mind facing the higher-ranked Azurmendi, as just in March she scored a hard-fought win over the Spaniard at the Polish Open 2021.
This presents an enticing prospect for Mahulette as her potential round three opponent, eighth-seed Lianne Tan, would all but guarantee a tough but winnable three-game match. All of their four previous matches have gone the distance with the head-to-head standing at 2-2.
Another player to keep an eye on from that corner of the draw is Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, who makes her return from an injury just before Christmas at the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships Qualification. Gilmour defeated Marin around a month prior, on her way to the SaarLorLux Open 2020 title.
The two-time European silver medallist 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.
Blichfeldt out
The 2019 European Games medallist is out through injury. Read more here.
With the second seed absent, this opens up a path particularly for Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen, the 2015 European Junior Champion, who will likely meet, seventh seed Line Christophersen, the 2018 European Junior Champion, in the quarterfinal. The two have played five times, with the younger Christophersen taking the lead with her win at the Orleans Masters 2021 just last month.
The 2021 European Championships will take place in Kyiv, Ukraine from 27 April to 2 May.