Lithuanian blind tennis team leader Karolis Verbliugevičius opened his campaign at the IBTA World Blind Tennis Championship, which began today at SEB Arena in Vilnius, with two victories.
In the B1 group stage, Verbliugevičius defeated Ireland’s Stuart Haxell 4:2, 4:2 before comfortably beating Poland’s Piotr Malicki 4:0, 4:1.
The Lithuanian finished top of Group C and secured his place in the knockout stage.
“It was the first match, so I had to deal with the nerves and anxiety. But I think I managed to do that already in the first set. I figured out my opponent’s serve, and in our sport and especially in our category, that is extremely important,” Verbliugevičius said after his first victory.
Fellow Lithuanian B1 players Justas Pažarauskas and Gražvydas Butrimas suffered narrow defeats in their opening matches of the Championship.
Pažarauskas lost 3:5, 4:5(1) to Japan’s Harafumi Shiozawa, while Butrimas was beaten 4:5(13), 2:4 by Finland’s Pekka Rantanen.
Oksana Dobrovolskaja came through a real thriller in her opening match of the women’s B1 singles competition. She battled past Germany’s Kirstin Linck 5:4(4), 4:5(10), 10:6.
Vytautas Ališauskas and Vaida Litinskaitė both finished the opening day with one win and one loss.
Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Lithuanian team – Mindaugas Triušys, Karolis Tupalskis, Aušra Rimeikytė, Vilmantas Balčikonis, Denas Damskis and Živilė Karoblienė – are still looking for their first victories.
A total of 81 singles and doubles matches will be played at SEB Arena on the opening day of the IBTA World Blind Tennis Championship. The Championship will continue until 29 August, when the finals in all categories will be played on the Centre Court at SEB Arena.
