China’s ZHENG Peifeng has claimed his career first ITTF World Tour title at the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Czech Open in Olomouc after fighting through a back injury in the Men’s Singles Final today 26 August 2018.
Taking a 1-0 lead early on it became apparent that ZHENG who was playing against an impressive Marcos FREITAS was in some discomfort. At 2-1 down he took a medical time out to get some treatment for the strain on his latissimus dorsi muscle in a bid to finish the match. Cheered on by the crowd as he returned the 22-year-old fought hard to win the next three games to claim his first Men’s Singles Gold on the world tour by a score of 4-2 (13-11 6-11 8-11 11-7 11-8 11-6).
Showing a strong front the unseeded ZHENG remarked: “I did not think much about the injury and tried to focus on doing my best in the match. Of course I am very happy to win my first Men’s Singles title but I will continue to practice hard when I am back and hopefully I can have more opportunities like this.”
In the Women’s Singles event it was Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) who bagged her second Women’s Singles gold of the year since her win in Germany as she beat WEN Jia (CHN) in an enthralling final.
The top seed who finished second last year in Olomouc after losing to Mima ITO (JPN) in the final was determined for the crown. Facing two compatriots in Hashimoto HONOKA and Saki SHIBATA in the earlier rounds this time ISHIKAWA showed the mental steel to overcome adverse situations en route to her final where she once again displayed her ability to turn things around.
In the final it was the World Ranked 178 WEN who came out fighting and took an early 1-0 lead against the 4th best player in the world right now. ISHIKAWA’s ability shone through in the second game as she upped her tempo and never looked back. Despite WEN winning a close fourth game to level the score at 2-2 ISHIKAWA powered home to win the gold 8-11 11-8 11-4 7-11 11-6 13-11.
The 25-year-old said after her hard-earned victory “Last year I was also in the final and I am glad to have the chance to experience it once again this year. Winning it this year makes me feel really happy.”
In the Men’s Doubles Final Patrick FRANZISKA (GER) and Jonathan GROTH (DEN) successfully defended their title against the Swedish pair of Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON. The mixed association pair proved too strong to end the match 3-1 (5-11 11-9 12-10 11-7).
Conversely in the Women’s Doubles event it was the mixed association pair of SUN Jiayi (CRO) and ZENG Jian (SGP) who fell. Partnering each other for the first time on the world tour their amazing run was stopped by the Chinese pair of LIU Gaoyang and ZHANG Rui who prevailed 3-0 (11-6 13-11 11-2) to clinch the title.
With the conclusion of the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Czech Open the world’s top table tennis stars will only have 2 more chance at the Swedish Open and Austrian Open in Nov to earn valuable World Tour ranking points to qualify for the million-dollar ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at the end of the year.
Quick Links:
