It was home crowd delight in the first round of the Men’s Singles
event at the Erke German Open in Berlin on Friday 21st November 2008.
In
addition to the successes in the top half of the draw, where Timo Boll
beat India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta, Christian Süss defeated Slovakia’s
Peter Sereda and Bastian Steger ended the hopes of Croatia’s Roko
Tosic; there were four further wins for the host nation in the lower
half of the draw.
Furthermore, three of the victories were gained against higher ranked opposition.
Leading the Way
Ruwen Filus led the way.
Currently
standing at no.253 on the ITTF Men’s World Rankings, he beat Russia’s
Alexei Smirnov, ranked no.37, in a thrilling seven games duel. The
German defender recovered from a three games to one deficit and the
very brink of defeat to win by the narrowest of margins.
He succeeded 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 13-11.
Similar
Similarly, Lars Hielscher upset the odds.
He
overcame Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive in six games, winning 5-11, 11-6,
11-9, 12-10, 5-11, 11-5 whilst to complete the trilogy there was
success for Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth.
Recovery
He
beat Austria’s Robert Gardos, very much the man in form in recent
months and one of Europe’s few bright lights at the Beijing Olympic
Games.
Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth emulated the efforts of Ruwen
Filus; he recovered from a three games to one deficit and the very
bring of defeat to overcome the Austrian star.
The talented
German succeeded 13-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-13, 16-14, 11-9, 11-6; Zoltan
Fejer-Konnerth currently occupies the no.100 spot on the ITTF Men’s
World Rankings whilst Robert Gardos enjoys a career high of no.28.
Expected Win
A trilogy of success against the odds and one win as expected; that came from Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
Seeded no.2 he recorded a straight games victory over the Czech Republic’s Michael Kleprlik. He won 11-4, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3.
Gao Ning and Kan Yo
Success for Germany, success for the no.2 seed and there were also successes for the fifth and sixth seeded players.
Japan’s Kan Yo, seeded no.6 beat Spain’s Wang Jianan whilst Singapore’s Gao Ning, seeded no.5 ousted Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia.
Both were hard fought wins with a six game score line being the final verdict.
Gao Ning won 8-11, 11-5, 17-15, 11-3, 4-11, 11-9 whilst Kan Yo succeeded 5-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.
Source: www.ittf.com
