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46th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

Thursday, May 3, 2001
Day Eleven of the Worlds

By Larry Hodges

The play at these Worlds is probably the best ever. According to Dan Seemiller – and my observation matches his – the combination of the 40mm ball with what Dan says are the best playing condition in any Worlds he’s been to (that’s a lot) have led to a steady barrage of rallies that are sometimes hard to believe. Offense, defense (especially topspin defense), it seems like the players can do no wrong. A loop kill last year is now just a rally shot at this level.

Tim’s written a segment on women’s singles, which is below. I’ve added my own tidbits afterwards, plus write-ups of men’s singles and doubles.

Women’s Singles

By Tim Boggan

Round of Sixteen

Women’s Eighths saw five Chinese, including defending champion Wang Nan, win their matches 3-0. Kim Yun Mi of South Korea also advanced 3-0. Austria’s Liu Jia won 3-1.  Thus all eyes were on Romania’s world #9 Mihaela Steff’s deuce-in-the-fifth win over South Korea’s world #17 Kim Moo Kyo. The fifth game was even all the way up until Steff’s final 23-21 angled-off backhand aced through an also valiant Kim, who earlier had deuced it from two match points down. Scores were -15,7,18,-14,21.

Steff’s a player I much admire. There is absolutely no stalling, no nonsense from her. She’s ready to play every point, and ready to off-the-bounce attack almost every ball from either forehand or backhand. Key to her climactic win was also her third-game rally where, fist up with every winning point, she recovered from 13-5 down.

Now she has a good chance of joining an all-native Chinese semis if she can get by world #59 North Korea’s Kim Yun Mi.

In many past Worlds or Olympics, it seemed like the higher ranked woman won almost like clockwork. Often, the top four or eight seeds would make it all the way to the semis or quarterfinals. What a change this tournament has been! After today, the # 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 seeds (Li Ju, Sun Jin, Chen Jing, Yang Ying, Tamara Boros and Ryu Ji Hye) are all out of the tournament – only two (Wang Nan and Zhang Yining) of the top eight are left! And #9, Mihaela Steff, barely survived, as you’ll see below.

[End of Tim's report.]

Women's Singles

By Larry Hodges

Mihaela Steff said after her win over Kim Moo Kyo, “She was too good to returning my forehand serves. I had to try something, so I started serving with my backhand though I hadn’t done it for some years.”

Lin Ling (CHN) d. Chen Jing (TPE), 15,9,10
It seems that when Chen has an important match with her former Chinese teammates, she usually loses, often badly. In this match, the world #5 was “mauled” by world #14 Lin Ling.

Lin said afterwards, “I discussed till late at night with my coach to convince myself that I could beat her. And when I could see that my approach was working it made me really happy.”

Wang Nan (CHN) d. Kim Hyon Hui (PRK), 15,14,19
This was an interesting match-up because of how well Hui had played in the teams. These two may be the most athletic of the Asian women. The games seemed closer than the scores of the first two, but while Wang is definitely better, Hui may be challenging here soon.

Zhang Yining (CHN) d. Li Jia Wei (SIN), 14,14,8
Zhang won easily, but Li Jia Wei had a chance to win … when the scoreboard inadvertently flipped the scores, and had her up 2-0 for all or most of the third game! When the match did “end,” it showed Zhang had just won the third 21-8, and was down 1-2 in games.

Other Matches

Tomorrow’s women’s matches, and the international record between them
Wang Nan (CHN) vs. Li Nan (CHN)
May, 2000, China Open, round of 16. Wang Nan d. Li Nan, 3-0.

Niu Jianfeng (CHN) vs. Zhang Yining (CHN)
No record of international matches between them was found.

Lin Ling (CHN) vs. Liu Jia (AUT)

Mihaela Steff (ROM) vs. Kim Yun Mi (PRK)
No record of international matches between them was found.

Men’s Singles & Doubles

By Larry Hodges

Men’s Singles, Round of 32
Wang Liqin (CHN) d. Lucjan Blaszczyk (POL), 13,18,-16,-12,10
World #1 Wang continued to have difficulties, having to go five games here. So far, he hasn’t played nearly as well as he did for most of the past year or so. Blaszczyk plays a spectacular two-winged looping game, very much like his countryman Grubba.

Jorgen Persson (SWE) d. Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA), 12,17,-19,-16,19
From the jumping backhand kill Persson pulled off at 6-4 in the fifth to any of the zillion step-around loop kills by Gatien – usually blocked, counterlooped or fished back by Persson – this was a great match all the way to 19-all. And then … what can one say? Two net balls in a row, and Persson has won. Gatien is absolutely stunned, and slams his towel down afterwards. Who can blame him?

Persson said afterwards, “It was really a hard match, closely fought all the way. I was lucky at 19-19 [two net balls]. Gatien never gives up. He will keep running and fighting until the last point, and if you lose concentration he will get at you immediately. Now I am looking forward to playing Wang Liqin.”

Gatien said, “He took me by surprise and before I wok up I was down 2-0. In the last game we just played point to point – at the end luck was on his side, but I salute his victory, and wish him all the best.”

One interesting note: you can now mark down Persson as the “favorite” to win Men’s Singles here. Why? At the last three Worlds, whoever beat Gatien went on to win. (Kong in 1999, Waldner in 1997 and Liu Guoliang in 1995; Gatien won in 1993.)

Zoran Primorac (CRO) d. Torben Wosik (GER), 19,-19,-20,14,15
Wosik had Primorac on the ropes, but couldn’t finish. Wosik, like Jean-Michel Saive, is a normal-sized guy except that he has tree trunks for legs.

Liu Guoliang (CHN) d. Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE), 17,12,-16,15
Kreanga can actually play at Liu’s pace – meaning there were some rallies that didn’t seem humanly possible.

Joerg Rosskopf (GER) d. Damien Eloi (FRA), -19,19,16,-22,10
This was a great match, but like Eloi’s match with Liu Guoliang at the Olympics (where he was up 2-0 and at deuce in the third game), he wasn’t able to finish. Eloi was up 20-18 match point in the fourth, and had another match point at 22-21, but couldn’t pull them off. At 20-18, Eloi missed two backhand hits in a row; at 22-21, Rosskopf pulled off a spectacular backhand counterloop that Eloi couldn’t even touch.

Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE) d. Peter Franz (GER), 17,18,-17,15
A Waldner match is often an adventure, and this was no exception. Waldner looked all business here, but still mixed in his usual mix of unusual shots. Up 16-14 in the third, perhaps Waldner got bored – that’s what people say happens to him when he’s winning too easily – and he lost the game 21-17. In the fourth, down 8-12, he scored five in a row, and from there on he pulled away.

Waldner said afterwards on his upcoming match with Samsonov, “It is going to be very close, but I feel that I have a psychological advantage over him. I beat him the last two times – the last one in the Olympics quarterfinals.”

Patrick Chila (FRA) d. Jean-Michel Saive (BEL), 16,15,20
In the first, Saive led 10-5, but from there on he played rather poorly, especially compared to his play in the Teams. He missed Chila’s serve a number of times, and never looked comfortable.

Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) d. Cheung Yuk (HKG), 16,-14,16,19
Cheung is an extremely fast left-handed shakehander who repeatedly put Samsonov on the defensive. He hits hard, but not hard enough, and there were points where he’d smash ball after ball after ball, but couldn’t get past Samsonov’s steady topspin defense. He led nearly all the fourth game, but Samsonov caught up and, helped by a net ball winner at 19-all, won the match.

Werner Schlager (AUT) d. Oh Sang Eun (KOR), -15,25,14,15
Schlager said, “It was too easy for him when I returned service backhand to backhand, so I started to vary my serves and returns to disturb him.”

Oh said, “I did not use the chances I got and then I lost my concentration. Schlager was reading my game too well.”

Kong Linghui (CHN) d. Michael Maze (DEN), -15,14,17,-13,16
Because Kong hasn’t been playing well, and because many think of Maze as the next European star, there was a lot of interest in this match, and before it began a number of people pointed at this one as a potential upset. And a battle it was, lasting long after all the other matches this round were done. The left-handed Maze can pull off nearly any shot, and is a vicious counterlooper – some of the shots he’d pull off were, well, amazing. He also liked to step to his forehand side to receive short serves with his backhand, either hitting them or dropping them short.

After winning the first, Maze went up 4-0 in the second, but Kong quickly came back and won that game easily. In the third, it went to 15-all, but a few careless mistakes by Maze and Kong won. Maze blew Kong away in the fourth game at 13. In the fifth, Kong goes up 4-0, but Maze ties it at 4-all. Kong pulls away again, and for most of the game, Maze is always behind about four points. Then Kong stretches his lead to 18-12. That’s when Maze finally made his move, scoring four in a row,18-16. Since he’d be serving at the end, Kong was in dire trouble. But, in the words of USA Coach Dan Seemiller, the whole match could have swung either way on the next point. Kong pushed, and Maze got caught slightly out of position. Instead of his usual powerful backhand loop, he basically lofted a soft topspin ball to the middle of the table, and Kong creamed it, 19-16. If Maze had made a stronger shot and won the point, he’s serving at 17-18, and anything can happen. It didn’t. Maze serve & looped, and missed the follow-up loop, 16-20. Then he serve and ripped – and a now-loose Kong blocked a clean winner to Maze’s forehand.

As Coach Seemiller pointed out, the Chinese have had one close call after another, both here and in recent past big tournaments, such as the Olympics – and yet they always pull them off. How long can this go on?

Other Matches

Next Round Match-ups

Men’s Doubles Semifinals

Wang Liqin/Yan Sen (CHN) vs. Chiang Peng-Lung/Chang Yuan-Su (TPE)
In some ways, Yan Sen is reminiscent of Lu Lin, the all-out looping penholder who teamed with Wang Tao and became probably the best doubles team in history. When Yan and Wang play, Yan’s job is pretty simple, at least on the surface: he loops everything that goes long. This keeps the points opened up so Wang Liqin, world #1 in singles, can use his powerful shots – just as Lu Lin’s loops gave Wang Tao the chance to blast his shots. Both teams were lefty-righty combinations (Wang Tao and Yan Sen are the lefties) so both can play their forehands over much of the table and not get in each other’s way. Like Wang Tao/Lu Lin, the Wang/Yan team is an Olympic gold medallist, winning gold at the 2000 Olympics.

Their opponents from Taipei are the 2000 Asian Championships Men’s Doubles Winners, and they’ve won five ITTF Pro Tour events. (Wang/Yan have won seven.) While both are right-handed, they are extremely fast penhold loopers, and so can get out of each other’s way. The team will rely heavily on world #4 Chiang Peng-Lung’s powerful loop.

Both teams have an interesting contrast in heights. China has the tall and powerful Wang Liqin teamed with the short but very fast Yan Sen; Taiwan has the relatively tall and powerful Chiang Peng-Lung teamed with the short and very fast Chang Yuan-Su. (Note: Chang’s name is sometimes spelled Yun-Shu.)

In the first game, Taiwan is leading 15-10 – and lose all five on their own serve! China goes up 16-15, and soon leads 20-18, and win 21-19. In the second game, it’s all China, 11-4, 14-6, 21-10.

The tables turn in the third, as Taiwan finally got their game’s together, and begin pounding out winners clockwork-like. They lead 4-1, 13-7, 17-13, 21-15. In the fourth, it’s more of the same. Also, China seems to have more trouble with the Taiwanese serves than vice versa. At the end of the fourth, China battled from down 6-10 to get to 14-15. But Wang made several weak returns of Chiang’s serve (and missed two), and Taiwan wins the fourth, 21-16.

In the fifth, Taiwan leads 8-5, but China ties it at 9-9. 10-10. 11-11. 12-12. Then … 19-12 China! Seven in a row! Only … Taiwan, with the serve, scores four in a row to 19-16. China goes up 20-16 when Wang counter-hits a winner. Then it’s 20-17 … 20-18 … 20-19! But the next serve goes just a bit too long, just off the end of the table – and that’s all Wang needs to absolutely rip the ball apart for a winner. Match to Wang Liqin/Yan Sen, 19,10,-15,-16,19.

Kong Linghui/Liu Guoliang (CHN) vs. Kim Taek Soo/Oh Sang Eun (KOR)
While Kim/Oh are a very strong doubles team, they are “dogged” by one thing: they’ve never won anything internationally. In ITTF Pro Tour events, they’ve been in the quarters nine times, the semis six times, and the finals three times … but they’ve never won. They are both powerful loopers, Kim a penholder, Oh a shakehander. They would like nothing better than to break out here. There is also the underlying fact that just a few days before, Kim had had seven match and tie points against China in the semifinals of Men’s Teams, but couldn’t score – and so China won the event, with South Korea out in the semis, one point short. Would this bother the Koreans, or give them extra incentive?

Their opponents, on the other hand, have won, and won a lot. They have won the last two World Championships; they won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics and the silver in 2000; and they’ve won nine ITTF Pro Tour events. They use their contrasting styles to their benefit – Liu Guoliang is the perfect set-up man, with his great serve, receive and touch. With Liu setting him up, Kong can tee off with his shots, with Liu smashing in anything loose.

China runs away with game one from the start, 6-1, 12-4, 20-12. Then, Korea seemingly makes a series of “wild” swinging flips and jab blocks – and everything goes in for winners! Six points later, it’s 20-18 – but then the percentages catch up, and Oh flips into the net, 21-18. In game two, China simply runs away with it – 5-0, 11-4, 13-7, 17-8, 21-11. In the third, China starts to run away with it again, leading 6-3 and 8-5. But Korea ties it up at 10-all, the they play stay close to 15-all. Then China scores five in a row, and (except for an edge at 20-15), it’s all over. Once again, Korea loses to China in the semifinals, 18,11,16. The men’s final will be an all-Chinese affair.

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