Panagiotis GIONIS wins Croatia Open

Greek player beat no. 1 seed Ricardo WALTHER in five games of the Men`s Singles final. Elizabeta SAMARA lost to Saki SHIBATA in the Women`s Singles final

Panagiotis GIONIS from Greece and Saki SHIBATA from Japan are the winners of the singles events at the 2018 ITTF Challenge Croatia Open concluded tonight April 14th in Zagreb. Greek player beat two top seeds of the Men`s Singles event in last two stages first no. 2 seed Germany`s Benedikt DUDA then his compatriot and no. 1 seed Ricardo WALTHER. The 38-year-old was extended to full distance by DUDA turning the score from 2:3 to 4:3.

Saki SHIBATA repeated her achievement from recently held 2018 ITTF Challenge Series Spanish Open in Guadalajara. In that occasion she defeated her compatriot Hitomi SATO in the gold medal contest but this time that clash has emerged in the semi-finals and again SHIBATA prevailed against no. 1 seed. Japan`s player beat Romania`s Elizabeta SAMARA in the six games of the final. SAMARA overcame Ni Xialian in the semi-finals.

Hungary`s Nandor ECSEKI (HUN) and Adam SZUDI (HUN) are the winners of the Men`s Doubles event while Sweden`s Matilda EKHOLM and Hungary`s Georgina POTA lost to Honoka HASHIMOTO and Hitomi SATO from Japan in the Women`s Doubles final.

Men`s Singles

Semi-finals

Ricardo WALTHER (GER) – Can AKKUZU (FRA) 4:2 (11:3 7:11 14:12 11:8 9:11 11:8)

Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE) – Benedikt DUDA (GER) 4:3 (11:9 5:11 4:11 11:5 11:13 11:8 11:8)

Final

Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE) – Ricardo WALTHER (GER) 4:1 (11:13 11:9 11:8 11:5 12:10)

Women`s Singles

Semi-finals

Saki SHIBATA (JPN) – Hitomi SATO (JPN) 4:0 (12:10 11:3 11:6 11:7)

Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) – NI Xialian (LUX) 4:1 (7:11 15:13 11:7 11:8 13:11)

Final

Saki SHIBATA (JPN) – Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) 4:2 (11:9 11:5 10:12 6:11 11:4 11:8)

Men`s Doubles final

Nandor ECSEKI (HUN) / Adam SZUDI (HUN) – PENG Wang-Wei (TPE) / SUN Chia-Hung (TPE) 3:0 (11:6 11:3 11:5)

Women`s Doubles final

Honoka HASHIMOTO (JPN) / Hitomi SATO (JPN) – Matilda EKHOLM (SWE) / Georgina POTA (HUN) 3:1 (10:12 12:10 11:8 11:9)