Frenchman Abdel-Kader SALIFOU collected his second ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title by emerging successful in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. The no.6 seed, overcame the host nation’s Roko TOSIC, the no.7 seed in seven games to arrest the title (7,
Frenchman Abdel-Kader SALIFOU collected his second ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title by emerging successful in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. The no.6 seed, overcame the host nation’s Roko TOSIC, the no.7 seed in seven games to arrest the title (7-11, 7-11, 11-1, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9).
“Last year I played him in here in the quarter-finals and I had no chance at all; I lost four-nil, I couldn’t return his services”, reflected Abdel-Kader SALIFOU. “This time in the beginning of the match it was the same, I was not returning well and he had the control over the match.”
A powerful left hander, in 2012, Roko TOSIC had dominated proceedings to record a very impressive win (11-5, 13-11, 11-4, 11-9). “I decided to stay cool and calm and tried to improve my returns, I tried to return services with my backhand, flicking the ball more and I was sure that if I could force him away from the table I was the stronger player”, explained Abdel-Kader SALIFOU. “When he was far away I played top spins with control and I changed the length of my top spins to make him move and play different strokes instead of always playing with the same strength.”
Not seeded, required to compete in the qualification stage of proceedings, Korea’s Lee Dasom was the shock winner of the Women’s Singles .At the final hurdle, she overcame Sweden’s Matilda EKHOLM, the top seed, in a closely fought seven games duel to clinch the title (11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11, 11-0, 11-8, 11-8) and in so doing emulated the feats of China’s CAO Zhen and FENG Yalan.
