St. Pölten, May 10, 2008. Anyone who can take a break in between matches can consider himself lucky especially with the sun shining the way it is in Europe at the moment. Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig had to play through the Country Quota-Play-Off and qualification at the Austrian Masters in St. Pölten before decisively beating the Nyström twins from Finland in straight sets in the first round of the main draw.
The German duo has already played a bunch of games although the 100,000 Euro Austrian Masters - the second leg of this year's NESTEA European Championship Tour - has only just begun.
With all of their recent match play an unexpected break was just what the doctor ordered for the winners of the Spanish Masters and last year’s silver medalists at the NESTEA European Championship Final in Valencia. Belgium's Mouha/van Bredam arrived too late for their second round match set for noon resulting in a 0:21, 0:21 loss to Goller/Ludwig according to official regulations.
A refreshing siesta instead of a draining match against a tough opponent: the German duo gladly took the gift. The disappointed Belgian duo did not want to live long with their faux pas on their mind: Mouha/van Bredam beat Spain's Alcom/Matveeva easily in straight sets in the loser's round keeping themselves in the tournament.
The Austrian top duo Montagnolli/Swoboda, however, were eliminated early in their much-anticipated home court performance. First they were defeated in an all-Austrian derby by Gschweidl/Hansel followed by a three-set loss to Gemis-Fareau/Giordano of France. The result: a disappointing final 13th ranking for such a usually successful duo: "We made a lot of mistakes despite our good service", Sara Montagnolli said after the early exit. "The competition on the tour is really tough and nuances decide over winning and losing. You just cannot afford to make as many mistakes as we made today."
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