2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open
Actual no.1 seed at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open China’s XU Xin beat Frenchman Simon GAUZY in the opening Men’s Singles round in ÖVB-Arena Bremen to get revenge for the defeat he suffered in the Round of 32 at the 2019 ITTF World Champions in Budapest six months ago. XU who leads in the Race to the World Tour Grand Final (December 12-15) to be held in the city of Zhengzhou prevailed against recent 2019 Swedish Open quarter-finalist in five games.
Belarus Vladimir SAMSONOV defeated no.16 seed Englishman Liam PITCHFORD after full seven games concluding the clash with four consecutive points (11:5). His next opponent will be no.4 seed Tomokazu HARIMOTO who overcame Sweden’s Anton KALLBERG in six games. No.6 seed Timo BOLL four-time winner of the World Tour in his country beat China’s ZHOU Qihao in six games to set encounter with former Asian champion Jun MIZUTANI of Japan.
SAMSONOV’s teammate in TTCLM champion Fakel Gazprom Orenburg Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was beaten by China’s YU Ziyang after thrilling battle in seven games. German tied at 3:3 after 1:3 but Chinese won ultimate chapter 11:8. OVTCHAROV’s compatriot Patrick FRANZISKA prevailed against Kazakhstan’s Kirill GERASSIMENKO in straight games whilst Korean LEE Sangsu turned the score from 1:3 to 4:3 against Greek Panagiotis GIONIS.
Denmark’s Jonathan GROTH lost to Brazil’s Hugo CALDERANO in six games.
China’s WANG Chuqin (actual world no. 22) the winner of the recent 2019 Swedish Open toppled JANG Woojin 4:0 and he now faces his compatriot no.2 seed FAN Zhendong in the Round of 16.
Women’s Singles Round of 32 brought two disappointments for domestic fans in ÖVB-Arena as HAN Ying and Petrissa SOLJA lost their games against YANG Xiaoxin (Monaco) and JEON Jihee (Korea) respectively but they enjoyed SHAN Xiaona’s win over Hong Kong’s DOO Hoi Kem 4:1.
Strong favourites proved their class as no.1 CHEN Meng and no. 2 WANG Manyu defeated Matilda EKHOLM (Sweden) and LIU Fei (China) respectively. Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA no. 12 seed showed all her potential against China’s QIAN Tianyi but lost after seven games in spite of having 3:1 advantage.
Olga VOROBEVA of Russia upset no.13 seed Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS in five games to set up clash with no.3 seed SUN Yingsha.
Germany’s Timo BOLL / Patrick FRANZISKA beat Japan’s Masataka MORIZONO / Maharu YOSHIMURA 3:0 in the Men’s Doubles Round of 16 to provide clash with no.2 seed FAN Zhendong / LIN Gaoyuan who eliminated Belgian pair Martin ALLEGRO / Florent LAMBIET.
Ovidiu IONESCU (Romania) / Alvaro ROBLES (Spain) no.3 seed beat Jakub DIYAS (Poland) / Cedric NUYTINCK (Belgium) 3:2. Host players Benedikt DUDA and QIU Dang defeated Hong Kong’s HO Kwan Kit and LAM Siu Hang 3:0.
