The last 16 action kicked off this morning in Tallinn with the mixed doubles and from the outset there was drama no more so than in the match between Alyssa Tirtosentono/Wessel Van Der Aar (NED) and Georgii Karpov/Anastasia Kurdyukova.
It took 1 hour and 4 minutes to separate the pairs after sharing game one and two 23-21 20-22. The Russians took what looked like a match winning lead in the deciding set at 15-10 but five points in a row saw the Dutch level at 15-15.
It was not until the end of the match when level at 22-22 that the resolve of both pairs was tested to the maximum. A controversial call when Russia was serving flamed an already subdued fire and it was the Dutch who stayed in the zone to win the next two points to take the match and with it a quarter final spot.
- I am still shaking after the match said Tirtosentono immediately after the win. We stayed focused and concentrated with the controversy happened which was crucial to us winning in the end say Van Der Aar.
Elsewhere France advanced two pairs to within one match of a medal while Germanys Emma Moszczynski & Lukas Resch took three sets to get by Ercetin and Basakin in three to make the quarter finals.
- Against the Turkish it is always difficult said Moszczynski. We lost the first set but once we won the second we felt we could win as we could kind of see the fight draining out of them in the second game.