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The Bulgarian Captain Georgi Donchev welcomes Emily Rose Magill (4)
and father Daniel Magill from Great Britain.
© by Desislava Kulelieva |
Nirvana in Varna
The Russian Alexandra Balashova won three titles in Varna 2009. Off court the stars were Emily (4) and Tara (2). by Tony Doran
Alexandra Balashova from Russia was a clear winner 6:0, 6:2 over her compatriot Xsenia Solovjeva in the Women's Open singles. Claudia Fusani of Italy almost equalled that score in her 6:1; 6:2 victory over Jolanta Budzowska of Poland in the Women's 40+ singles. Tomas Balint of Slovakia soundly beat Kirill Samigullin of Russia 6:3, 6:0 in the Men's Open singles and Nikola Mihajlov of Germany convincingly won the singles for men 35 to 45, beating Rafael Jaworski of Poland 6:3; 6:2.
Matches were played at the club next to the Grand Hotel Varna Resort close to the beach and on courts in the City centre of Varna. Some of the excellent doubles' matches drew gasps of awe from the crowd especially in the finals between the Russians and Bulgarians. Ivan Stefanovic, from Montenegro, a former World champion, said of one glorious shot by Alexandra Balashova, "If I'd tried a backhand like that it would have ended up in the trees." . |
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Great beach tennis
The quality of tennis was enhanced by a week of hot sun and outstanding value-for-money. The Rubin Hotel's all-inclusive deal was literally that. You could order a free drink, including alcohol, or help yourself to water and juice whenever you wanted to do so. And at the pool bar sausages and chips were on the go most of the day. The evening entertainment was well thought-out, and the beach tennis was an inspired idea which really worked. The Grand Hotel Resort on the edge of the Black Sea was superb for swimming, both in the sea and the many pools.
Outstanding: Emily and Tara
Off-court the star of the week was Emily Rose Magill aged four, and her friend, Tara Mihajlov, aged two, daughter of men's singles champion Nikola, a newspaper feature writer, and his wife Vera from Langen, Germany. Emily was an eleventh-hour addition to the British team after her father Daniel, News Editor of Three Mobile, called the airline and asked if they had a spare seat. For one so small, she amazed everybody by her photographic skills at the evening receptions, shooting nearly 100 pictures including professional shots of dancers on the stage at a local restaurant and journalist revellers on a Varna bus trip. Emily and Tara joined in the dancing and were popular with everybody.
Nirvana is said to be perfect bliss attained by the extinction of individuality. In Varna we had some of both.
The Champions and the Nations' World Cup
WC Varna 2009
Read about Emily's birth - see Love in the Sun
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Alexandra Balashova with a backhand topspin shot to the titleof the Woman's Singles Open. © by Desislava Kulelieva
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