Katharina Schützenhöfer/Lena Plesiutschnig and Dorina Klinger/Ronja Klinger celebrated a dramatic 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the second round in the sold-out Heumarkt stadium on Thursday. In the semi-finals of the new eight-nation tournament on Friday evening, they will meet Germany, who had managed to go straight up as group winners.
The decision against the Netherlands was only made in the golden set before the eyes of Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, which Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig won after a nerve-racking up and down with 15:13. “It was a back and forth, in the end we did it, it was just crazy. Semi-finals – we really didn’t expect that after Corona and the many things that went wrong in the last few weeks,” stressed Plesiutschnig.
Previously, the Klinger sisters had prevailed in the opening duel, but Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig lost the second. In the 2,800-strong arena, the Klingers scored 2-1 (19-18.9) against Emi van Driel/Pleun Ypma. “We just did a great job. It’s so nice and easy to play here,” emphasized Ronja Klinger, who recovered from a gastrointestinal infection suffered at the beginning of the week. The renewed heat didn’t bother her either. “Now I’m doing great. I’ve recovered very well, I was in great shape,” said the 22-year-old. “Hopefully it will continue tomorrow.”
This hope was fulfilled, although Schützenhöfer/Plesiutschnig initially lost out to Mexime van Driel/Emma Piersma with 1:2 (-18,19,-10). They were already leading 5:0 in the necessary decisive set with the same line-up, but still had to fight hard and in the end just barely got the upper hand.
Now the Germans to be favored are waiting. “We’re in the last four. We can only win more. The mood is super cool, we’ll rock it,” promised Schützenhöfer.” Plesiutschnig is also hoping for a sequel, with the audience behind him, a lot is possible. “We’re very happy that we finally showed a great performance. Now we’re looking forward to the next games,” said Plesiutschnig. It doesn’t really matter who the opponent is. “Come on, who wants to, we don’t give a damn.” Switzerland and Latvia will meet in the second semi-final.
On Thursday evening, the Austrian men also met the Netherlands in the second group game.
Source: Nachrichten
