Two years without a Men’s Singles title on the ITTF Pro Tour then, like the proverbial London bus, having waited and waited two come at once.
On Sunday 2nd November, Timo Boll won the Men’s Singles title at the Erke Austrian Open, three weeks later and Sunday 23rd November 200 he captured gold on home soil at the Erke German Open. At the final hurdle Timo Boll beat Chinese Taipei’s Chuan Chih-Yuan in five games.
Timo Boll won 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-3, 11-8.
Twelfth Title
It was Boll’s twelfth Men’s Singles title at an open international tournament on the ITTF Pro Tour whilst, in addition, he clinched the Men’s Singles crown at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in December 2005 in the Chinese city of Fuzhou.
Third Time
Furthermore, it is the third time in his career that Timo Boll has won consecutively in Austria and Germany.
He achieved that feat in 2004 and 2006; and in fact in 2004 he went one better.
Omen
The German star won the Men’s Singles crown at the Polish Open and is that an omen for 2008?
The final ITTF Pro Tour tournament of the year is the Polish Open in one week’s time!
The remaining victories for Boll came in 2001 in Brazil, in 2002 in Austria, in 2003 and 2005 in Japan and in 2006 in Germany.
Favourite
Against Chuan Chih-Yuan, Timo Boll started proceedings as the clear favourite; of their eight previous meetings in world ranking events, Timo Boll had won six of the duels and he had won the most recent five exchanges.
The two wins for Chian Chih-Yuan came in September 2002 at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Japan Open and in January 2004 in the European Champions League.
German Wins
Meanwhile, for Timo Boll the victories over Chuan Chih-Yuan were achieved in December 2003 in the European Champions League, in 2004 in the Liebherr World Team Championships, in 2005 in the Liebherr Men’s World Cup and Vol;kswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals plus in 2008 at the Volkswagen Open Singapore and the Erke German Open.
In Berlin he made it nine wins over Chuan Chih-Yuan and six in a row.
Source: www.ittf.com
