Saturday, March 21, 2009
10:40 AM
ITTF Pro Tour German Open - Defenders, Singaporean Jinx?
Pavlovich Viktoria of Belarus cause the major upset in round three of the Women's Singles event. In four straight games, seeded no.11, she overcame Feng Tianwei, the no.1 seed, to book her place in the quarter-finals. Pavlovich Viktoria won 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9.

The defeats showed that our paddlers are rather weak against defensive style. Although Feng recorded earlier win against China's Wu Yang and South Korea's Park Mi Young in the Beijing Olympic Games, her victory were not convincing enough. Wu Yang is from China 2nd Team, while the win against Park was by the faintest margin, which can be attributed to abit of luck. Meanwhile Yu Meng Yu suffered 2 times defeat against Japanese Chopper in the Pro Tour Grand Finals last year. Li Jiawei was facing troubles against the World No. 1 defender, South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah as well.

However, there are still reasons why we should celebrate. The other 3 Seeds all progressed. Yu Meng Yu, winner of the Women's Singles event one week earlier at the Indian Open, overcame Hungary's Krisztina Toth, the latter withdrawing from proceedings at the end of the third game when trailing by two games to one. Colleagues Sun Bei Bei and Wang Yue Gu recorded victories against their adversaries as well. Sun Bei Bei overcame Romania's Elizabeta Samara; seeded no.8 she beat the no.14 seed in four straight games. Although Wang emerged victorious but she needed the full seven games to overcome Italy's Nikoleta Stefanova, seeded no.21. Wang Yue Gu won 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6.

Gao Ning added on to the happiness by recording another win against Belarus Chtchetinine Evgueni. He won 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 16-14, 5-11, 11-7.




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