Matters went exactly according to the pecking order of the seeding in the first round matches in the lower half of the draw in the Men’s Singles event at the Polish Open in Warsaw on Friday 28th November 2008.
Sixteen players received direct entries and sixteen players were present as a result of success in two days of qualification group matches.
All 16 seeded players progressed, all 16 qualifiers departed.
Acclimatisation
It was very much as it should be but it rarely happens; the fact that qualifiers have experienced two days of competition is to their advantage.
They are acclimatised whereas the seeded player is making the first footsteps on the path to greater things.
Steger Stretched
In fact only one of the eventual victors was stretched the full seven games; the player to endure traumas being Germany’s Bastian Steger. He was extended to the limit by Poland’s most improved player in recent months, 26 year old Jakub Kosowski.
Bastian Steger won 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8.
Comfortable Passages
Meanwhile, for the highest seeded players it was a relatively comfortable journey to the next round.
Hong Kong’s Cheung Yuk, seeded no.2, after a slow start, defeated Croatian teenager Borna Kovac in five games (11-13, 11-7, 14-12, 11-6, 11-3) whilst Japan’s Kan Yo, seeded no.4, accounted for Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh in four straight games.
He won 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9.
Similar Success
Similarly for Denmark’s Michael Maze and Singapore’s Yang Zi; the respective fifth and sixth seeded players it was success.
In the battle of former European Youth champions, Michael Maze beat Russia’s Mikhael Paykov (11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5) whilst Yang Zi defeated the host nation’s Piotr Chodorski in a tough six games encounter.
Yang Zi won 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7.
Source: www.ittf.com
