Opposites, Leading Women’s Pairs Survive; Major Men’s Doubles Shock

October 23, 2015

Opposites, Leading Women’s Pairs Survive; Major Men’s Doubles Shock
2015 ITTF World Tour, Polish Open
Courtesy of ITTF

Eight seeded pairs; all survived the opening round of the Women’s Doubles event, as play commenced on Friday October 23rd at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Warsaw; in the Men’s Doubles competition, at the same stage, there was a major casualty.

China’s Fan Zhendong and Zhang Jike, the no.2 seeds, suffered defeat at the hands of the Portuguese duo represented by Tiago Apolonia and João Monteiro; they experienced a four games reverse (11-4, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5).

Fan Zhendong and Zhang Jike may not be tried and trusted partners but the result achieved by Tiago Apolonia and João Mionteiro far outweighs any success gained this year on the ITTF World Tour.

Never Beyond Preliminary Stage
They have been partners on two previous occasions and have never reached the opening round, let alone advanced to the quarterfinals.

In Austria, they were beaten in the third preliminary round by Iranian brothers Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan (11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 11-3), one week earlier in the Czech Republic, they had departed proceedings two rounds earlier. They were beaten in the first preliminary round by Hungary’s Tomas Tregler and Adam Szudi (11-7, 12-10, 12-14, 9-11, 15-13).

Conversely, João Monteiro has proved himself and expert at the art of doubles; some three weeks ago at the Liebherr 2015 ITTF-European Championships, he partnered Austria’s Stefan Fegerl to gold, it was the first time the duo had been partners.

Reverse Scenario
A surprise win for Portugal, there was also to be a surprise defeat for the Iberian Peninsula country.

Marcos Freitas in harness with Andrej Gacina, the no.7 seeds, experienced a reverse at the hands of Africa United. They were beaten by the partnership realized by Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna and Omar Assar (11-4, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3).

Two upsets and there was one more; Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Karlsson accounted for Russia’s Fedor Kuzmin and Grigory Vlasov, the no.4 seeds (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5).

Success for Leading Pairs
Upsets but for the other leading pairs it was success.

Hong Kong’s Tang Peng and Wong Chun Ting, the top seeds, beat Singapore’s Clarence Chew and Wu Zhikang (11-9, 11-7, 11-9); China’s Ma Long and Xu Xin, the no.3 seeds, overcame the French partnership of Stéphane Ouaiche and Abdel-Kader Salifou (11-9, 11-9, 11-8).

Totally Different
Meanwhile, in the opening round of the Women’s Doubles event, it was a totally different scenario.

Notably, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu, the top seeds, beat Japan’s Shiho Matsudaira and Haruka Sakai (11-3, 10-12, 11-4, 11-4); while China’s Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling, the no.2 seeds, accounted for Lily Zhang and Zheng Jiaqi of the United States in a similarly impressive manner (12-10, 11-7, 11-7).

Likewise, China’s Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen, the no.3 seeds, overcame Japan’s Hina Hayata and Hitomi Sato (11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10); similarly, Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun and Tie Yana, the no.4 seeds, ended the hopes of Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yi-Hua and Lee I-Chen (11-3, 16-14, 11-9).

Host Nation Pairs in Form
Notable performances and there were two notable performances from the host nation.

Both occupying the no.8 seeded position in the draw, in the first round of the Men’s Doubles event, Jakub Dyjas and Daniel Gorak beat the Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek and Tomas Tregler (6-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7).

In the counterpart Women’s Doubles competition, Katarzyna Grzybowska and Natalia Partyka accounted for the European silver medalists, the partnership of Hungary’s Georgina Pota and Romania’s Elizabeta Samara (12-10, 11-6, 11-7).

Today’s Results: