One week after the ladies’ guest appearance the men’s tournament series continues at the Duesseldorf Masters. The title favorites from Friday to Sunday at the fifth edition are the Egyptian Omar ASSAR and Germanys’ Benedikt DUDA who are seeded first and second ahead of Dang QIU (Grünwettersbach) and Sweden’s Anton KÄLLBERG. All matches will be broadcast live on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and tischtennis.de.
One thing is already certain before the first rally. The series of tournament winners will continue with a new name. The previous winners Timo BOLL (Masters I) Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Masters II and III) and Bastian STEGER (Masters IV) are not in the game this time.
A total of 14 players will compete in the sixth Duesseldorf Masters on Friday afternoon (from 4 p.m.) as well as on Saturday and Sunday (from 10 a.m.). With Omar ASSAR (38) Benedikt DUDA (39) Dang QIU (52) and Anton KÄLLBERG (57) four aces from the top 60 of the ITTF ranking are represented and guarantee world class sport.
The favourites will be challenged by nine youngsters on their way to the top selected from the DTTB U23 support squad and talents from the DTTB-Boarding School. The internationally experienced German Thomas KEINATH completes the field. Later playing for Slovakia Keinath won a bronze medal for Germany in Men’s Doubles at the European Championships in Bremen 20 years ago alongside Lars HIELSCHER nowadays assistant coach of Germanys National Men’s team.
Duesseldorf Masters 6th tournament (10-12 July)
Round of 16 10 July (6 matches in chronological order) 10 July
Omar ASSAR EGY (seeding no. 1) bye
Fanbo MENG GER (6) – Tayler FOX GER 4 pm
Cedric MEISSNER GER (7) – Gerrit ENGEMANN GER immediately following but not before 16.45
Nils HOHMEIER GER (8) – Dennis KLEIN GER directly after but not before 17.30
Anton KÄLLBERG SWE (4) – Thomas KEINATH SVK immediately following but not before 18.15
Dang QIU GER (3) – Tobias SLANINA GER directly after but not before 7 pm
Tobias HIPPLER GER (5) – Kirill FADEEV GER directly after but not before 19.45
Benedikt DUDA GER (2) bye
Quarter-finals 11 July (in chronological order)
Anton KÄLLBERG SWE or Thomas KEINATH SVK – Fanbo MENG GER or Tayler FOX GER 10 o’clock
Dang QIU GER or Tobias SLANINA GER – Cedric MEISSNER GER or Gerrit ENGEMANN GER directly after but not before 10.55 a.m.
Omar ASSAR EGY – Nils HOHMEIER GER or Dennis Klein GER directly after but not before 11.50 am
Benedikt DUDA GER – Tobias HIPPLER GER or Kirill FADEEV GER directly after but not before 12.45
Semifinal 12 July (in chronological order)
Winner 4th quarter final – Winner 1st quarter final 10am
Winner 3rd quarter final – Winner 2nd quarter final immediately afterwards but not before 11 a.m.
Final July 12
1:45 p.m.