Ahead of the inaugural European Games group F in the women’s singles was always going to end up being balanced on a knife edge. Ireland’s Chloe Magee is the seeded athlete ranked 5 but was likely to feel the pressure from both Lianne Tan and Kati Tolmoff (pictured) both very accomplished professional in good form.

In the opening group F match on court 1 Tolmoff proved that class is permanent as she convincingly saw of the challenge of a lack lustre Irish number 1 and controlled the match to win in two games 21-18 21-17.

Lianne Tan followed shortly with an easy win over group outsider Kristine Sefere of Lativa to leave Magee now needing to essentially win her remaining two matches against the Belgian and the Latvian to proceed to the quarter finals. Magee recently beat Tan in the European Mixed Team Championships held in Belgium but Tan has been in sparkling form lately and Wednesday’s match against the number 5 seed will have a huge bearing on Magee’s progression in the European Games.

Boe & Mogensen forced to work for their win

World number 3 pair and favourites for the men’s doubles title, Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen, had to shake of some jetlag after being forced to work hard in their opening match against Sam & Joshua Magee.

The Irish pair were quickly out of the blocks racing into a 4-0 lead and had their opportunities to take the opening game. However the Danes slowly started to find their rhythm and did just about enough to take the opening game 21-17.

The second game followed the pattern of the opening game with the Irish again frustrating their more illustrious opponents. Towards the end of the second game there was an increased sense of urgency from the Danes and they found another gear towards the end to win 21-16.

The Danes will have used the match to acclimatise to the hall and environment while the Irish will feel they are in with a real shout of advancing to the quarter final after a positive performance on Day 1 in Baku.

Holst taken to three games after a shaky start

Emil Holst, the second seed in the men’s singles was one of the early starters on Day 1 of the European Games in Baku. Unlike Boe & Mogensen, Holst had been in Baku a few days prior to the start of the event so accordingly will feel slightly worried about his form after his opening performance against Durkinjak of Croatia. Holst did take the opening game 21-14 but a lapse in concentration saw the Croatian doubles specialist take the second game 21-18. The Dane pressed the reset button in the third game to win 21-9 and walk away from the match with an overriding sense of relief.

For all results and videos from the action in Baku go to the official games website at baku2015.com.

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