Other Events | 20 Mar 2015

Surprise after surprise at the German Open

Only seven seeds remained in game after the opening round of the Women’s Singles event at the GAC 2015 German Open in Bremen. The first hurdle witnessed surprise after surprise as very much youth ruled the day, the biggest upset being caused by Japan’s 14

Only seven seeds remained in game after the opening round of the Women’s Singles event at the GAC 2015 German Open in Bremen. The first hurdle witnessed surprise after surprise as very much youth ruled the day, the biggest upset being caused by Japan’s 14 year old Mima ITO. She accounted for the host nation’s Han Ying, the no.3 seed, who just over one month earlier had been the runner up in Qatar

SEO Hyowon, the no.4 seed was beaten by Poland’s LI Qian, Yu Mengyu, the no.7 seed, suffered at the hands of China’s Gu Ruochen (11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10, 11-4); whilst Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA ended any aspirations harboured by Sayaka HIRANO, the no.8 seed (11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8).

“I had already played five matches today before this one and I have been feeling better and better all along the day”, said Petrissa SOLJA after beating Sayaka HIRANO. “I like her style so I felt very confident during this match; she is a very good player so I am very happy that I could beat her.”
LIU Fei beat Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA, the no.11 seed and the winner just over one month ago in Qatar (13-15, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3).

The host nation’s Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA caused the biggest upset at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Doubles event. Occupying the no.8 seeded position in the draw, they beat the Chinese Taipei partnership of CHIANG Hung-Chieh and HUANG Sheng-Sheng, the second seeds and the winners just over one month earlier in Kuwait in three straight games (11-6, 11-8, 11-5).

At the quarter-final stage of the Women’s Doubles event, there was also an upset. The partnership of Austria’s LI Jia and the Czech Republic’s Iveta VACENOVSKA, the no.8 seeds, accounted for Singapore’s FENG Tianwei and YU Mengyu, the top seeds (11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8). In the semi-finals LIU Jia and Iveta VACENOVSKA meet SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA; Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA confront DOO Hoi Kem and LEE Ho Ching.