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First place in the group for Belgium’s Eline Loyen in the initial stage of the Girls’ Singles event at the 2015 World Junior Championships in La Roche-sur-Yon, when play closed on Thursday 3rd December, appeared to be contrary to expectations.
She finished ahead of Hungary’s Leila Imre, listed at no.67 on the Under 18 Girls’ World Rankings, as opposed the Eline Loyen who is named at no.73.
The 17 year old Belgian cemented first place in the group by beating Egypt’s Sara Abousetta, a player with no current World ranking (11-8, 11-5, 11-2, 11-9) to top the group, having earlier in the afternoon won her tenth game in opposition to Leila Imre (11-4, 12-10, 11-2, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10).
Third Meeting
“I felt confident before the match”, said Eline Loyen. “It is the third time we’ve played each other in the tournament and I won the previous two matches.”
They met in the first stage of the Girls’ Team event when Eline Loyen won in four games (12-10, 11-4, 4-11, 11-7); later they faced each other on the contest for 13th place.
Again Eline Loyen won; she secured victory in five games (11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-5).
Return of Service
“Today, she had problems returning my service in the first three games”, explained Eline Loyen. “After the third game she returned much better, she won the fourth and fifth games, the sixth game was close; I must give her credit, she fights for every point, she never gives up.
Biggest Surprise
A surprise first place for Eline Loyen but in reality it was no surprise whatsoever.
However, that was not the situation with Portugal’s Patricia Maciel who emerged as arguably the most unlikely name to secure first place in a group.
Listed at no.149 on the current Under 18 Girls’ World Rankings, she finished ahead of Belgium’s Margo Degraef named at no.115 and Prachi Jha, listed at no.25, the second highest rated player in the first stage of the Girls’ Singles event.
Games Ratio
In her opening contest, she beat Prachi Jha in five games (5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7), Prachi Jha recovered to overcome Margo Degraef, likewise in five games (11-9, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3), before in the concluding match Maro Degraef somewhat excelled expectations to defeat Patricia Maciel.
She won in seven games (6-11, 14-12, 4-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-2, 11-4).
Thus games ratio was required to determine the outcome. It was first place for Patricia Maciel (7:5), second position for Prachi Jha (5:5) with Margo Degraef (5:7) the player to miss out on a place in the main draw.
