EICC 2023 : Nele and Victor crowned in Poland

Top seeds Nele and Victor are European Champions

The women’s final saw Nele Gilis cruise to a clear 3/0 win against Enora Villard in 33 minutes. It is the second EICC title for the Belgian after winning 2019 in Bucharest.

The French affair in the men’s final featured Victor Crouin and Auguste Dussourd. After losing last year’s final the top seed was determined to add this title to his collection. After winning the first game easily the match became a tight affair. Dussourd fought back well and forced Crouin into a fourth game. Again he needed to work hard to win 11/8 and claim his first EICC title.

The annual event will be held next year in the Spanish city of Cuenca near Madrid.

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Day THREE : Semi-Finals

It was down to the semi-finals on Day Three in Wroclaw, but all participants were still in action today as in EICC players play for all positions in a Monrad format.

Enora Villard and Emilia Soini opened the race for the medals. It was a match full of emotions with both players battling hard but also debating calls of the referee. Emilia was close to victory in the fourth game at 10 all. But after more than an hour Enora had the better end winning 11-7 in the fifth game.

Top seed Nele Gilis followed against Marie Stephan. It was a close match in the first two games, but after 35 min Gilis secured her place in the final without dropping a game in any of her matches.

Titleholder Nicolas Mueller was on next against Auguste Dussourd. The Frenchman took the first game 12-10. Mueller came back to win the second 11-9. The third game was fiercely contested and went 12-10 to Dussourd, who went on to win the fourth 11-5 and thus reach the final.

Top seed Victor Crouin was on last against Dimitri Steinmann, the second French vs Switzerland of the day. And inspite of Crouin winning in three games, it was a tight match lasting 50 minutes. The men’s final will therefore be an all-French affair.

Day Two : Top seeds through to the semis at Hasta La Vista

Quarter-finals day started with Enora Villard from France against Austria’s Jacqueline Peychar. Villard struggled in the first two games, but finally managed to win in three games.

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The second women’s match of the day was a dramatic five set battle with Emilia Soini having the better end against Moa Bönnemark. Marie Stephan from France and German Saskia Beinhard treated the crowd with an exciting match. The higher seeded French narrowly won 11/9 in the fifth game.

Women’s top seed Nele Gilis cruised to an easy win against Lauren Baltayan.

Reigning men’s champion Nicolas Mueller beat Czech Daniel Mekbib in just 24 minutes, and Frenchman Auguste Dussord proved his higher seeding by beating former champion Raphael Kanda in four games.

Spaniard Edmon Lopez took the first game, but then Swiss Dimitri Steinmann took the initiative and secured his place in the semis in four games. The last match of the day featured Victor Crouin against Edwin Clain, both from France. Top seeded Crouin was just too strong for his fellow countryman and did not drop a game to reach the semis.

Day ONE : Down to the quarters

Two rounds were played today at the Hasta La Vista Club, to decide the places in the quarter-finals.

In the women’s event young Moa Bönnemark (SWE) caused the biggest upset by beating 5/8 seed Nadia Pfister from Switzerland. 3/4 seed Marie Stephan (FRA) had to battle hard to overcome Norway’s Madeleine Hylland. Local hero Karina Tyma performed well but lost in 4 games to young French Lauren Baltayan. All other seeds won their matches without dropping a game.

The top four men’s seeds easily cruised through the first two rounds. But there were some small upsets. Spain’s Edmon Lopez beat higher seeded Viktor Byrtus (CZE). But Daniel Mekbib secured the Czechs a place in the quarters by beating Spaniard Bernat Jaume. In the last match of the day Frenchman Edwin Clain beat higher seeded Czech Martin Svec and will face top seed and fellow country man Victor Croin in the quarterfinal tomorrow.

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Defending Champions Tinne Gilis and Nicolas Mueller will face tough opposition from top seeds Nele Gilis and Victor Crouin (who they defeated in last year’s finals) among others, with 18 countries represented in the four-day tournament.

The draws will be available three days before the event starts, and there will be live streaming and live scoring.

The draws for the 2023 European Individuals have been released, with France’s Victor Crouin and Belgium’s Nele Gilis top seeds.