Second win sends Goller and Ludwig into round of 16
Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig booked themselves a place in the round of 16 with their second win in three matches at the London 2012 Olympic Games. They defeated The Netherland’s Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel to avoid the lucky loser round.
The German’s were in control early on and Ludwig was on top form with her defence at the back of the court. She maintained that form in the second set and with Goller in control at the net, they finished with a 21-18, 21-14 victory.
"I'm really relieved,” Goller said. “It's not like coming third and having to play the lucky loser round late at night, which is very stressful.
“So now we have time off and can relax, get our bodies sorted, be happy and see what the draw brings tomorrow. We can't do any tactical stuff as we don't know who we're playing next."
British pair Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin will have to go through the lucky loser round after they finished pool play with one win and two losses. They lost their third match to Russian duo Ekaterina Khomyakova and Evgenia Ukolova.
The Russians 25-23, 21-13 win leaves the British duo to wait and see who they will be drawn against in the lucky loser round.
“Our passing was not consistent,” Khomyakova said. “This is the first time for both of us in front of such a large British crowd. Even though this was good for the British team, we had to stick to our game plan.”
There wan epic clash between USA’s April Ross and Jennifer Kessy, and Spain’s Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo as Pool D came to a close.
Tough battle
The Americans took the lead after the first set, but the Spaniards fought back to draw level in the second. At the end of the third Fernandez and Baquerizo had two match points, but Ross and Kessy saved both of them. They then had two match points that the Spanish saved, but on the third Ross and Kessy wrapped up a 21-19, 19-21, 19-17 victory and first place in the pool.
“Every match feels like a tough battle and that was the toughest one yet,” Ross said. “It wasn’t looking good at the end, but Jen came out with a great dig. I know some top-ranked teams have finished second, so I hope this first place helps us out now.”
Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes also completed a clean sweep of their pool play matches with a 18-21, 21-16, 15-9 win over Australia’s Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden.
“We have a long way to go and now we have to forget about this game,” Maria Antonelli said. “We have to concentrate on the next one because if you lose you are out.”
