With one round to go in the final, France's Catherine Multon and Nadine Cohen were in the lead with Britain's Nevena Senior and Sarah Teshome in second place. The luck of the draw pitted these two pairs against each other for the last round and as two of their main challengers were also in opposition, the stage was set for an exciting finale.

Board 25. Dealer North. EW Game ª A Q 7 5 © A 7 4 2 ¨ J 4 § J 9 2 ª J ª 6 4 3 © 9 6 5 © Q 8 3 ¨ K Q 6 5 3 2 ¨ A 10 9 § Q 10 7 § A K 6 5 ª K 10 9 8 2 © K J 10 ¨ 8 7 § 8 4 3

At the two leaders' table, Nevena Senior balanced with 3¨ when 2ª was passed round to her and Catherine Multon pressed on to 3ª. The defence cashed two diamonds and then three clubs, leaving Senior on lead, and she exited with her trump. Multon drew trumps and then misguessed hearts to go two down - a result that put the British pair into the lead.

At the contenders' table, Wietske van Zwol, somewhat surprisingly, did not balance with 3¨ and Elizabeth Lacroix was left to play in 2ª. Once again the defence started with their five winners in the minors, leaving West on lead; however, van Zwol, who was not sure who held the outstanding diamond, continued with ¨Q. The resulting ruff and discard meant that Lacroix no longer had to find the ©Q and she chalked up +110 - a result that kept the French pair in touch with the leaders.

Board 26. Dealer East. Game All ª Q J 7 3 © 9 4 ¨ K 10 9 4 3 § 9 8 ª A K 8 6 ª 5 4 2 © K 8 7 © Q J 10 6 2 ¨ A 8 5 2 ¨ J 7 § A 2 § 5 4 3 ª 10 9 © A 5 3 ¨ Q 6 § K Q J 10 7 6

Multon led the §K and Sarah Teshome won and played a trump to the ten and Ace. A trump continuation would have given the defence a chance of stopping the club ruff in dummy, but Multon cashed a club before playing a trump. Teshome won this in hand, ruffed her last club and then played Ace and another diamond. Nadine Cohen rose with the ¨K and continued with the ¨10 and Teshome unfortunately pulled out the wrong card and ruffed with the ©2. When Multon overruffed with the ©5, nine tricks had become eight and -110 was good enough for the French pair to finish just ahead of the British pair.

At this table the stakes were a bit higher as Catherine Poulain's 1¨ response let Martine Verbeek show her hearts at the one level and van Zwol had enough to raise to 3©. This time, declarer won the opening club lead and played a second club and Lacroix won and switched to the ¨Q. Verbeek took dummy's Ace and continued diamonds and Poulain rose with the ¨K and then played the ¨10. Verbeek ruffed this with the ©10 and Lacroix pitched a spade. A club was now ruffed and overruffed and Poulain persevered with diamonds. Verbeek ruffed high again as Lacroix got rid of her last spade. Now declarer led a trump and unblocked the ©K under South's Ace. Lacroix exited with a club and Verbeek elected to ruff in hand and try to split the remaining trumps, but when they turned out to be 2-0 she was three down as Lacroix could ruff the first spade and cash two clubs. +300 was a massive board for Poulain and Lacroix and it enabled them to become the new European Ladies Pairs Champions. Multon and Cohen were second and Senior and Teshome finished in third place.