German players were very much in the heat of the action in the
opening round of the Men’s Singles event at the Qatar Open in Doha on
Thursday 19th February 2009.
It was smiles for Patrick Baum and Ruwen Filus; it was tears for Christian Süss and Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
World
ranked no.75, Patrick Baum maintained the impressive form he had
displayed in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event to beat
Romania’s Adrian Crisan, ranked no.24, in five games.
The fast attacking skills of the former World Junior champion, never
letting his more experienced adversary settle. He won 11-6, 9-11,
13-11, 11-6, 11-9.
Match Points Saved by Kan Yo
Success
for Baum and success for Ruwen Filus; ranked no.211 on the current
listings, he gave one of the very best performances of his career to
overcome Japan’s Kan Yo, ranked no.21.
The win for the
defensive skills of the German was particularly noteworthy as Kan Yo
has a very creditable record against defensive players.
It was a
nerve tingling duel, especially for German supporters. Filus led by
three games to two and was ahead 9-3; eventually having held match
points, he lost the game before in the seventh game he went ahead 10-8,
losing two more match points before securing success.
Ruwen Filus won 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 14-16, 12-10
Nothing Different
"I
don’t really know what happened in the sixth game, I don’t think I did
anything differently", said Filus. "I think at the start of the match
he was a little nervous; to come back in the sixth game, he played very
cleverly."
Filus was consistent, especially when he took the opportunity to attack with his forehand.
"I
tried to attack when I could and play the ball down the parallel",
continued Filus. "It was a really difficult match but in the end I
coped well."
Italian Win
Meanwhile
for Christian Süss, it was less good news; the man in form being Mihai
Bobocica. The Italian beat the German in seven games, he won 13-11,
11-4, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10.
"I never stopped fighting", said
Bobocica. "In the first game I was down 5-10 and came back to win; in
the past I’d have let that one go but I continued to battle."
Certainly, it was a most determined performance.
Making Up Time
"I
have been out of the game with a knee injury for six months and I can’t
lose any more time; having had a break from table tennis, I know feel
mentally stronger", concluded Bobocica. "Today my short game was good,
Yang Min whom plays at my club has really helped me improve that part
of my play."
Levelled Career Score
The
one other German to fall was Dimitrij Ovtcharov, he was beaten by
Hungary’s Janos Jakab who evened up the match score in head to head
duels.
"He won the first three times we met; in fact it was
15-0!" smiled Jakab, "Last year I won twice in the European Champions
Leaguew and now I’ve won here again; we are level."
Positives
It was a splendid effort by the Hungarian who was mentally very much in tune.
"His
backhand is strong, it was a stressful match but I kept calm and at the
crucial Stages I was strong", concluded Jakab. "I was positive at the
vital times; that was important."
Janos Jakab won 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10.
Xu Xin and Kenta Matsudaira
Four unexpected results according to world ranking and there were two more.
China’s
Xu Xin, ranked no.71 beat Austria’s Robert Gardos, ranked no.32 whilst
Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira, ranked no.114 excelled to hit top form.
He defeated Russia’s Alexei Smirnov, ranked no.43.
Xu Xin won 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 11-8 whilst Kenta Matsudaira prevailed 11-5, 11-3, 11-5, 11-13, 13-11.
Source: www.ittf.com
