Austria pulled off the surprise in Group 3 winning 3-2 against Czech Republic on the opening day of the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships Qualification.

The hosts took the lead of the tie winning a thrilling mixed double 23-21 21-19. Philip Birker and Katharina Hochmeier secured the first point for Austria surviving a game point in the first game and after trailing in most part of the second game. 

- I do not know why we lost. I think we played well, but we are not used to play together. We only practiced twice before this match, and we are both singles players, Tereza Svábíkóvá said.

- It was a very important win for the team, and I think this is the groundwork for the team, Philip Birker said.

2-0 by the underdog
If Birker and Hochmeier built the foundation for the Austrian team, men’s singles player Leon Seiwald added the walls. 

The underdog took his first win in 12 months winning in straight games against favourite Milan Ludik.

- I like the role as the underdog. I have shown multiple times before that when I play against higher ranked players, I can most of the time play to my full potential, so I was confident that I had a good chance to win, Seiwald mentioned.

Czech Rep. on the scoreboard
Czech Republic got their first point at the scoreboard winning the women’s singles. Katerina Tomalova beat Katrin Neudolt 21-17 21-14, before Austria for the second tried to secure the last important point.

Philip Birker and Dominik Stipsits were the favourites against Ondrej Král and Jan Louda, who both focus on the men’s singles category.

The Austrians had the lead in the first game at the interval and won a thrilling first game 23-21, while an entertaining second game went to the Czechs 26-24.

Birker x2
In the third game the Austrians double specialists took control, and after 63 minutes of play Birker and Stipsits became match winners for Austria winning the decider 21-17.

- At the end we managed the service situation a bit better, we were more focused and could make some easy points, and that made the difference, Stipsits said.

- It has been a pretty good day. Most people expect that the Czech Republic would win, but we had high expectations and high spirit, and it paid off, Birker added.

The last match of the tie, the women’s doubles, was won by Czech Rep. for the final score of the tie 3-2. 

The Friday schedule for Group 3:

13.00: Czech Republic vs. Slovakia
18.00: Netherlands vs. Austria