Other Events | 17 Nov 2013

BOLL, OVTCHAROV, SAMSONOV attain semis

Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus no.9 on the Men’s World Rankings and the no.7 seed in Berlin reached the semi final of the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open. He beat ZHOU Yu of China in the Round of 16, before he overcame Marcos FREITAS of Portugal

After beating FREITAS 4-3 in Quarterfinals SAMSONOV said: “After losing the first two games, I knew everything was still possible. I had to clear my head and think it was 0-0 and we just started. The sets I lost I was leading at some stage, so I did not think I was far away from winning a few. Freitas does not make easy mistakes. I would think I had won the point and he would get the ball back. It was very hard. I have never played my next round opponent FAN Zhendong before. I can’t believe he is just 16. That makes me 21 years older than him… unbelievable. I will watch some ITTF YouTube videos of him tonight to learn about his play a little bit.”

Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV also reached the penultimate stage of the Men’s Singles Event and they will play tomorrow against each other.

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, the no.3 seed, beat Japan’s Masato SHIONO, the sensation of the year having won GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles in both Yokohama and Olomouc, by the very narrowest of margins. He overcame the no.31 seed in seven games. In next Round OVTCHAROV overcame another Japan’s representative Jun MIZUTANI in straight games.

“After the 3rd game I had to take a short break to get a treatment by our physiotherapist Annette. I felt a sudden pain in my spine at the neck. No wonder, against SHIONO in the round before it was my hardest match ever. I hope I can still at least walk tomorrow. I’ll ask some tennis players to figure out what to do after such a marathon match. It felt like if the match lasted for ever,” said OVTCHAROV.

About the semi final against Timo: “I guess that Timo will be quite relaxed in this match. He overcame his injury and the flu and is fighting his way back. I hope that the spectators will watch a great match on Sunday. However this match ends I am looking forward to going on a 8-days holiday with his fiancée Jenny in Dubai on Sunday evening.”

A hard fought success and it was a hard fought success for Timo BOLL but not quite so dramatic. He accounted for compatriot Bastian STEGER in six games, and then beat Liam PITCHFORD of England on his way to semis. “The last game might have been a clean sweep, but all the other games were very close. He is not my favorite opponent. Recently in German Bundesleague I had a tough fight with him, beat him 3-2 only. He is always difficult to play for me. I haven’t reached my highest level of play, but concerning my fighting spirit everything works fine here in Berlin. I’m happy that Dima won. I support my German team-mates and especially my Dima as my buddy. I’m looking forward to playing Dima. It’s the revenge for the World Cup, and it will hopefully be on a higher level. In Verviers I was rather exhausted at the end of the tournament,” said BOLL after beating PITCHFORD.

Another Germany’s player reached semis. HAN Ying beat Yuka ISHIGAKI of Japan in quarters. Tomorrow she will play against Ai FUKUHARA of Japan.

In Men’s Doubles Event Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA are already in the final. They will meet CHIANG Hung-Chieh and HUANG Sheng-Sheng of Taipei.

At the penultimate hurdle two European pairings were halted in Women’s Doubles Event. Petrissa SOLJA and Sabine WINTER of Germany suffered by the hands of Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA, whilst Iulia NECULA and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania lost against WEN Jia and ZHAO Jan of China.

The winner of U21 Boys Singles Event is Masataka MORIZONO of Japan. He beat Quentin ROBINOT of France in the final. In U21 Girls Singles Event LEE Ho Ching of Hong Kong overcame Petrissa SOLJA in the final.

MIlica NIKOLIC, EWT; quotes DTTB, MIlica NIKOLIC, EWT; quotes DTTB