The top two seeded players in the Men’s Singles event at the Erke Austrian Open in Salzburg recorded semi-final success on Sunday 2nd November 2008; the top seed winning without surrendering a single game, the second seed being stretched to the limit.
Germany’s Timo Boll, seeded no.1, beat compatriot Patrick Baum 11-7, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2, whilst Chuan Chih-Yuan, seeded no.2, overcame Poland’s Wang Zeng Yi 11-7, 1113, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4.
Success for the favourites but as in the Women’s Singles event there was a degree of consolation for the vanquished.
Career Bests
Both left the arena knowing they had enjoyed their most successful ITTF Pro Tour tournaments not only on 2008 but of their careers.
It was the first time that either player had reached the penultimate stage.
The Current Year
Earlier in the year in Qatar, Patrick Baum had departed proceedings in round one, whilst for Wang Zeng Yi simply being in the main draw was very much a new experience having failed to negotiate the qualification stage in Slovenia on his one previous appearance.
Third Round Appearances
Meanwhile for Patrick Baum his previous career best had been round three, a position he reached in Brazil and Germany in 2006, whilst for Wang Zeng Yi a third round appearance was his previous best, a feat he had achieved on three occasions.
He reached the third round at the Eurosib Russian Open in 2005, the following year at the Serbian Open he progressed to the same stage whilst in 2008 at the Liebherr Austrian Open he enjoyed success by reaching round three.
Little Historical Evidence
It was the first time that Timo Boll and Patrick Baum had met in a world ranking event, whilst for Chuan Chih-Yuan and Wang Zeng Yi it was their second confrontation.
They encountered each other in January 2005 at the Liebherr Croatian Open when Chuan Chih-Yuan won their first round encounter in five games; in Salzburg he won again but on this occasion it was much closer.
Source: www.ittf.com
