Singapore’s Feng Tianwei caused the major shock on the second day of
play, Sunday 7th September 2008, at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in
Kuala Lumpur, when she beat China’s Guo Yue in five games at the
quarter-final stage.
Meanwhile, in the remaining three
quarter-final matches, matters went very much as per ranking. Hong
Kong’s Tie Yana defeated Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah; Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu
overcame Gao Jun of the United States and China’s Li Xiaoxia defeated
Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun.
Mistakes
"I made too
many mistakes today; thee main reason I think is that I’m at the low
point on the curve after Olympics and I haven’t trained since", said
Guo Yue. "You know, there was a series of activities in China for
celebration; besides, today is just the second day to use to new glue
and I haven’t been totally become accustomed to it, I could not play at
my usual level."
Good Time to Play China
It
would seem that the best time to play the Chinese is just after a major
tournament. At the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open in February 2008 there were
defeats for Ma Lin against Korea’s Joo Se Hyuk and for Wang Hao, Ma
Long and Chen Qi in opposition to Vladimir Samson.
The tournament followed the Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships.
Glue
Meanwhile Feng Tianwei concurred with Guo Yue with regards to the glue situation.
"The
racket is slower and I cannot gain so much spin or power as usual",
said Feng Tianwei. "Of course the new glue is a big problem for both of
us, so it was fair; today I was just more patient than Guo Yue,I had
the feeling that she was a little anxious when she fell behind."
Third Meeting
It
was the third time the space of one year that Feng Tianwei and Guo Yue
had met in a world ranking event; it was the first time that the
Singaporean had won.
The first meeting was in September 2007 at
the Panasonic China Open when Guo Yue had won in seven games in round
two; the closeness of the match was a portent of matters that were to
follow.
Asian Cup
In March 2008, they met on two occasions, both at the Asian Cup.
Guo
Yue succeeded in five games in the group stage, matches at that stage
of proceedings being best of five games before winning quite
convincingly in the final.
Notable Win
The
reigning World Champion recorded a straight games victory but en route
Feng Tianwei had achieved what few other have achieved in the current
century.
At the quarter-final stage, she defeated China’s
Zhang Yining, the world number one ranked player and now twice Olympic
Women’s Singles champion.
Ninth Meeting
Meanwhile
for Tie Yana and Kim Kyung Ah it was their ninth meeting in world
ranking events with the balance now being very much with the Hong Kong
player.
She has now won six of the duels; as for Wang Yue Gu
against Gao Jun and Li Xiaoxia in opposition to Jiang Huajun; the
records are similar.
Three Wins Apiece
The
statistics in world ranking events read: four meetings with Wang Yue Gu
and Li Xiaoxia having recorded three wins to one defeat.
In the semi-finals, Feng Tianwei meets Tie Yana whilst Li Xiaoxia confronts Wang Yue Gu.
Source: www.ittf.com
