Timo BOLL stayed unbeaten at the Liebherr Euro Top-12 in
Dusseldorf. He will play against Michael MAZE in Sunday’s semi final.
SAMSONOV succeeded against CRISAN in long match and he will play
against Kalinikos KREANGA who beat Jorgen PERSSON.
Previously in group matches CHEN Weixing of Austria gave hard time to
Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarusia, and he continued with good games
against top seeded too. "It
is always tough to play against CHEN and I needed a lot of energy to
overcome him. I played against him three weeks ago so I know what to
expect. It very important that you lead against CHEN" , said BOLL.
Dane
Michael MAZE played thriller against Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and won his
place in the semi final. In quarter final MAZE was leading 3:2 in sets
and 7:2 in sixth when he put himself in hard position. "I started
to celebrate little bit early, thinking that I won the match. That is
very dangerous when you play against a player as OVTCHAROV is. But I
managed to regain my focus and I played very well the last points of
the match. We are very close at the rankings, place or two apart at
European and world ranking, so maybe I was little lucky today, he was
not, and next time it will be different, who knows?" said MAZE.
In last couple of months, MAZE is coming back after long pause. "I
play very well now; I’ve been practice a lot. I do not have problems
with injuries and last couple of months I am satisfied with my game.
For a year, I practice every day and finally I can see some good
results from such training". In semi final MAZE will face BOLL. "I looking forward that match. It is always good to play against him. I love to play against strong opponents."
A long line of Dutch supporters in orange t-shirts at the tribune
in the hall gave great support to LI Jiao in the match against LIU Jia
of Austria, but Netherlands’ representative lost tight encounter in
seven sets with 14:12 at the end. LI Jie on the other hand gave
supporters reason to cheers. LI Jie overcame Romanian young player
Elizabeta SAMARA. "I feel good in Dusseldorf. I am very relaxed
and that gives me a lot of confidence. I know I will have tough match
against SAMARA, because she play good against defense, but I stayed
calm. The crucial point was in third set, when Romanian girl was led
10:7 and I won five points in the raw," said LI Jie.
LI Jiao was angry on herself. "I had a flue two weeks ago,
and I am not fully recovered, but the main problem is that I still
trying to adjust to new racket. I struggling from the Olympics "said
LI JIao. In other semi LI Qian will play against Polish player beat
Daniela DODEAN of Romania whilst German’s player WU Jiaduo succeeded
against Croat Tamara BOROS.
Source: www.ittf.com
