France’s Emmanuel Lebesson had suffered in his opening two matches in the Under 21 Men’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in Macau on Thursday 11th December 2008.
In six games he had been beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Hung-Chieh, whilst in his next encounter he had experienced defeat by the very narrowest of seven game margins in opposition to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas. However, he ended the day in positive mode.
He resigned the two defeats to history and in splendid fashion beat Singapore’s Ma Liang in four straight games; to give himself hope of progress.
Emmanuel Lebesson won 11-3, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
Not Enough
However, it was not sufficient for him to book a semi-final place; he need top seed Portugal’s Marcos Freitas to continue his winning ways and on games ratio Lebesson would have been through in second spot.
It was not to be; Freitas was beaten in six games by Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Hung-Chieh.
Chiang Hung-Chieh won 11-13, 11-8, 11-5, 11-3, 6-11, 11-7.
Decision
Both Marcos Freitas and Chiang Hung-Chieh finished the group with two wins each whilst for Ma Liang and Emmanuel Lebesson, it was one win each.
Two players level, it is the result of the match between those two players that determines the final order. Therefore, Chiang Hung-Chieh finished in first place with Marcos Freitas second followed by Emmanuel Lebesson and Ma Liang.
Concentration Affected
In his opening two matches, Marcos Freitas had been totally focused but against Chiang Hung-Chieh he questioned the service technique of his adversary; suggesting to ball was being hidden and he could not see the point of contact.
The referee duly adjudicated that matters were in order but certainly the concentration of Freitas was disturbed.
Total Focus
Conversely, Chiang Hung-Chieh maintained total focus; he forced Freitas back from the table on several occasions and gained success by executing his forehand wide to the forehand of the left handed Portuguese star.
Marcos Freitas was unable to dominate matters and that was the same situation for Ma Liang against Emmanuel Lebesson.
Fast Attacks Towards Body
The main task of Ma Liang was to thwart the fast forehand attacks of the Frenchman who gained success throughout by directing his opening attacks into the body of the Singaporean.
Attacking from the backhand, Emmanuel Lebesson was safe, from the forehand more lethal; in his first two matches he had lost the important points, against Ma Liang he won the crucial points.
Final Placings Determined
Meanwhile, in the corresponding group, the names of the qualifiers were known before the final round of group matches.
Russia’s Kirill Skachkov and France’s Adrien Mattenet battled for the right to be declared the group winner whilst the contest for third and fourth place saw the Czech Republic’s Lubomir Jancarik face Singapore’s Liu Zhong Ze.
The verdicts went to Kirill Skachkov and Lubomir Jancarik.
Kirill Skachkov won 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9 whilst Lubomir Jancarik prevailed 11-8, 17-15, 11-5, 11-4.
Source: www.ittf.com
