Germany’s Timo Boll, the no.1 seed and Denmark’s Michael Maze, the no. 5 seed, emerged victorious at the semi-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Polish Open in Warsaw on Sunday 30th November 2008.
Timo Boll beat Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi, the no.7 seed, whilst Michael Maze overcame Russia’s Fedor Kuzmin, the no.21 seed.
Michael Maze succeeded 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-3 whilst earlier Timo Boll had prevailed 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-0, 5-11, 11-6.
Junior Careers
The two left handers dominated junior table tennis in Europe in the late 1990s; both becoming European Cadet and European Junior champions with Michael Maze very much following the exploits of Timo Boll.
In 1995 Timo Boll won the Cadet Boys’ Singles title at the European Youth Championships in Den Haag with Michael Maze following suit one year later in the Czech Republic city of Frydek-Mistek.
One year later in Topolcany Timo Boll captured the Junior Boys’ Singles crown, he retained the title in Norcia in 1998 with Michael Maze once again emulating the efforts of the German player by winning in Frydek-Mistek in 1999; for Michael Maze, the Czech city has happy memories.
High Pedigree
Since that time both have graduated to become senior plays of high pedigree, both have realised the potential shown a decade ago with medals being won on the global stage.
In Warsaw they were dominant against players they had both confronted on two previous occasions in world ranking events.
Jiang Tianyi
Timo Boll had played Jiang Tianyi in November 2006 at the Volkswagen Open Korea and earlier in 2008 in May at the Volkswagen Open Korea.
Honours Even
Meanwhile, for Michael Maze, in previous encounters it was honours even.
In September 1999, Michael Maze had won in the first stage of proceedings in the European League whilst at the Polish Open in November 2002, victory had gone to Kuzmin.
Six years later in the same tournament, it was not to be Kuzmin, the victor was Michael Maze.
Source: www.ittf.com
