Germany’s Timo Boll stood firm but of the favourites he was the only one who succeeded at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Polish Open in Warsaw on Saturday 29th November 2008.
Seeded no.1 he beat the Czech Republic’s Petr Korbel in six games, winning 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 11-8.
However, for the next three names on the list it was defeat and mixed fortunes for Hong Kong.
Defeat for Second Seed
Second seed, Hong Kong’s Cheung Yuk was beaten by Denmark’s fifth seeded Michael Maze; whilst Singapore’s Gao Ning, seeded no.3 suffered at the hands of Cheung Yuk’s seventh seeded Jianmg Tianyi.
Michael Maze won 13-11, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6; Jiang Tianyi prevailed 4-11, 11-5, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9.
Olympic Games Success Repeated
Meanwhile, for Japan’s Kan Yo, seeded no.3, it was defeat at the hands of Russia’s Fedor Kuzmin. The Russian prevailed 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 and thus repeated the success he had enjoyed over the Japanese star at the Beijing Olympic Games.
In the first stage of the Men’s Team event, Fedor Kuzmin had recorded a four games victory.
Continued Success
Meanwhile for Timo Boll it was a continuation of recent success; it was his twelfth meeting with Petr Korbel in world ranking events and his tenth success. Furthermore, it was his tenth in a row.
Boll had lost on the first two occasions that they had met; in September 1998 the Czech prevailed at the European Masters Cup and in February 2000 in the Men’s Team event at the World Championships.
Three in a Row
Continued success for Timo Boll and similarly for Jiang Tianyi; he lost their first encounter in April 2007 at the Brazilian Open but then won both duels in the current year; he prevailed at the Volkswagen Open Singapore and one week ago at the Erke German Open.
Difficult to Predict
As for Cheung Yuk and Michael Maze, picking a winner was difficult prior to the match; of their four encounters, Cheung Yuk had won twice and Michael Maze had won twice.
Cheung Yuk won in 2001 at the Danish Open and in 2007 at the Panasonic China Open whilst Michael Maze succeeded in 2001 at the Korean Open and earlier this year in the first stage of the Men’s Team competition at the Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships.
In Warswa he succeeded again.
Source: www.ittf.com
