Estonia through to Eurovision final!
This year's Estonia's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest successfully passed the semi-final on Tuesday evening.
"Goodbye to Yesterday", written by Stig Rästa and performed by him and Elina Born, was up against Moldova, Armenia, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Belarus, Russia, Denmark, Albania, Romania and Georgia. Ten countries qualified and now go through to Saturday night’s final in the Austrian capital Vienna.
The final will be held in Vienna on Saturday.
Other nine acts through to the final are Albania, Armenia, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Georgia, Serbia, and Belgium, where they join prequalifiers Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, last year's winner Austria and guest of honor Australia.
The second semi-final will take place on Thursday.
Before the semi-final, British newspapers The Guardian and The Independent both called Estonia's entry “the one to watch“. "'Goodbye To Yesterday' is one of two girl-boy duets with a dark twist,“ The Guardian said.
"Goodbye to Yesterday" has been an early favorite since January, when the British online betting agency BetFred, the first to take bets on Eurovision, tipped Estonia for a 2015 song contest win. The French site Eurovision-fr.net also predicted a win.
Estonia has won the contest once - in 2001 when "Everybody“, performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, ruled the night in Copenhagen.
Welcome Elina Born, Stig Rästa. Lovely to see Stig without the trademark helmet and leathers #Estonia #Eurovision2015 pic.twitter.com/60QiNNK1k7
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) May 19, 2015
Editor: S. Tambur, M. Oll