The Hague, the Netherlands, June 14, 2013 – After the gold in Corrientes Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel were considered favourites for the Transavia The Hague Grand Slam title. Friday their dreams were put on hold after the Dutch team lost to Spain’s Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo in three sets (17-21 21-17 16-14) in the second elimination round.
“We gave our best and we did not give up until the end, but they took their chances where we did not”, Meppelink said. Spain came back from behind to win the second set and directly took a lead in the tiebreak. The Dutch, supported by a large crowd of home fans on centre court, managed to come back to 13-13, got a match point at 14-13, but were not able to collect. Spain equalled and at their first match point Liliana decided the match with a great block.
Tough match
“It was a tough match”, Liliana said. “We have a lot of respect for this team. They were in the last four in every tournament so far this year.” The Spanish team struggled in the first set. Baquerizo: “Our game was not flowing, we were not comfortable. My mind was racing.”
But Liliana and Baquerizo fought there way back into the game. “We just played point by point and fought for every ball”, Baquerizo said. In the quarterfinals they meet Brazil’s Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado. “Another tough match, but hey, let’s fight.”
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