Cicolari-Menegatti played their first match of the tournament against German Banck-Walkenhorst, who proved to be better and marched away with 2-0 (26-24, 21-17) victory. The Italian pair fought a great battle with Germans on the centre court, but still could not avoid defeat in the opening affair. The loss of first match put a big question mark on the performance of Cicolari-Menegatti in the coming matches. However, the duo showed remarkable improvement and shook off the bad impression with back-to-back victories afterwards.
The second fixture of the day brought Mouha-Gielen from Belgium in competition with Cicolari-Menegatti. The match spanned over two sets and completed its run in just 37 minutes. Italian pair started off well and secured the first frame with three points. Second set of the match unfolded the similar story. The Italians used the competitive edge and remained ahead of their counterparts. Set-2 also ended in Italy’s favour and Cicolari-Menegatti emerged successful with 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) victory.
Both the matches were played on Wednesday, August 15. At the end of the day, Italian side had a mixed result of 1-1.
In the next crucial match on Thursday, Italian ladies crossed their ways with Tsiartsiani-Arvaniti of Germany. The 15th-seeded German pair showed good fighting spirit and scored well in the opening frame. Scoring remained tight in the first half of the set. However, the Italians paced things with heavy strike of volleys in the latter half. Cicolari-Menegatti concluded first set with final score 21-18 and took 1-0 lead in the match.
German pair played under pressure in the second set and became irresistible. The Italians took full advantage of the nervousness of opponents and cruised past to 2-0 victory. The final sets scores were 21-18 and 21-14.
Success in third match allowed the Italian duo to keep its hopes alive to play in the Round 2 of Main Draw. The team was required to claim one more victory, in order to advance to the next round. Austria Bawden-Hinchley collided with Cicolari-Menegatti in the decisive fourth match on Thursday. Italian duo did an impressive job and finished both sets with identical score of 21-14. Match ended in Italy’s favour and Cicolari-Menegatti successfully booked a spot in Round 2 of the Mazury Orlen Grand Slam.
In the next run, Italian team will be challenged by 8th-seeded Kuhn-Zumkehr from Switzerland on Friday. Cicolari-Menegatti have high hopes to claw their way to the final four of the tournament.
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