Euro Individuals – Defending Champion Frier safely through

Video, Images and text by Mark Phelan (Live in Manchester)

Frier, who won the championship along with Kamilla Juhl in Herning, Denmark in 2008 stepped on court today to defend her title along with new partner Marie Ropke. The pair, whom many expect to go far despite their recent formation, got off to the best start to take the opening set 21-15.

A lapse in concentration in the second set allowed the Ukrainian girls the opportunity to bounce back and with a 21-16 win in the second Prus and Kovtseva were applying some continuous pressure on the fledgling Danish pairing.

However, they may be inexperienced as a pairing but the collective individual experience of both Ropke and Frier (pictured) came shining through in the third as they took the match with a 21-16 win and are still on course for a quarter-final battle with top seeds Russkikh and Nedelcheva.

Speaking to Badzine directly after their win both Frier and Ropke gave an honest summation of their performance and their expectations: