Tianer Yu came of age with a brilliant double as England women sent Italy to the knockout stages of the European Championships in Croatia, where they will take on second-placed Germany.
Yu, aged 17 and ranked just inside the top 300 in the world, defeated two players from the top 100 as England did what their male counterparts could not and qualified from the group stages.
Sinking the ninth-placed team and having gone through the qualifying tournament to reach this stage was a huge step forward for this England side.
Yu turned the tie around after Tin-Tin Ho missed match points by losing to Georgia Piccolin in the first match.
Ho (WR 247) made the gap to Piccolin (WR 84) look non-existent for most of a match that the England player will be kicking herself for losing.
After Ho won the first 11-8, the next four matches were all decided 12-10. Ho led twice and was put back twice, for a heartbreaking final match.
Ho led 5-1 at the change of ends and built that to 8-2, the last two of those points being brilliant forehand counter-attacks that left Piccolin looking beaten.
Both had already used their timeouts so had to plow on, and the Italian dug deep and clawed back to 8-8. Ho regained her composure and scored two match points.
However, Piccolin was not done yet and stunned Ho with four points on the spin, giving Italy the lead.
With Gaia Monfardini (WR 98) having won two in the 3-2 defeat to Croatia, England faced a major task. But Yu (WR 290) made excellent use of the opportunity, winning in three consecutive matches to level the tie.
Jasmin Wong (WR 806) took on Nicole Arlia (WR 288) and the Italian always had the lead in three.
Ho then played on Monfardini’s insecurities from her first match – the Italian appeared to spend most of the match shaking her head and throwing up her arms in annoyance – while making up for her own opening defeat. It was a controlled performance with the only falter at 10-6 in the third, when Monfardini saved the first three match points.
So for Yu versus Piccolin – youth versus experience, world No. 290 versus No. 84. But anyone who entered the room from another planet would have had trouble figuring out which was which.
Yu won the first 11-7, stormed through the second 11-4 (she led 10-2) and led the third 8-4. Perhaps nerves started to creep in when she took the timeout at 8-6 and then saw Piccolin’s level. Yu won the next point, but three in a row for Piccolin saw Italy back in the match.
Carlo Agnello’s words on the bench would have been important, but Yu already has an impressive mentality and she ensured there would be no repeat of game three as she opened an identical 8-4 lead and this time pushed through to seal the score at 11-4, before running to the bench with a smile.
So despite not having to qualify for next year’s World Cup, hosts England did it anyway – their last-16 tie against Germany will be on Thursday.
Results
Women’s group G
England 3 Italy 2
Georgia Piccolin b Tin-Tin Ho 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10)
Tianer Yu Bt Gaia Monfardi 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9)
Nicole Arlia vs. Jasmin Wong 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-7)
I defeated Monfardini 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-9)
Yu bt Piccoline 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4)
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