(by Steve Hopkins)
Kanak Jha has faced Germany’s Dang Qiu (Currently World No. 11) four times, and in all four cases Qiu has walked away the victor. Today, the situation was a little different. In the Group Stage of the World Cup, players advance based upon cumulative performance. And because Jha defeated Horatio Cifuentes 4-0 and Qiu won the same match 3-1, Jha could advance today with a 2-2 split. This changes the strategy for both players, and Jha executed his plan perfectly to secure his spot in the Main Draw. Just like at the Olympics last Summer, Kanak Jha has reached the final 16 on one of the World’s largest stages.
In the first game, Qiu reached 5 first, but Jha found a new gear and extended the lead to an 11-6 win. The second game then became extremely important with both players having to win. The players were tied at 5, and then tied again at 10. Compared to the long rallies throughout, the final two points were short. Qiu mishit a backhand into the net to give Jha the lead, and then Qiu sent a backhand opening long – two quick points to end the second game. Qiu went on to win the next two games at 11-6 and 11-7, but without the energy and urgency of the first two games. Qiu ends his tournament with a 2-2 split. Jha advances. In the group, Jha finishes 6-2 in games with 80 points won and 50 points lost. Qiu ends at 5-3 and Cifuentes ends at 1-7.
Elsewhere in the groups, final matches are being played today. Duda, Kallberg, Jorgic, Moregard, Calderano, Harimoto, Jingkun, Chuqin, and Shidong have all qualified from the top position – each finishing just as their seed would have predicted. The surprises include not just Kanak Jha who qualified from the second position but also An Jaehyun who finished ahead of Omar Assar, Hiroto Shinozuka who finished ahead of Jang Woojin, Simon Gauzy who qualified from the third position ahead of Robles and Franziska, Feng Yi-Hsin who qualified ahead of both Lind and Felix Lebrun, and Shunsuke Togami who upset Lin Gaoyuan (in much the same way that Jha advanced over Qiu). In the final Men’s match of the day, Lin Yun-Ju and Dimitrij Ovtcharov were each 4-0. The two split their opening games, leaving a situation where every point could matter (if they end tied 2-2, the next tiebreaker is number of points won and lost). The next two were hard-fought at 13-11 and 12-10, with Ovtcharov coming out on top. Ovtcharov wins the final match of the day, and advances out of the second position in his group.
Lily Zhang split games today with Korea’s Suh Hyo Won but did not qualify as Suh had a slight advantage in the Points Won Tiebreaker (a narrow 38-34 to 34-38 advantage). USA’s second player in the Women’s World Cup, finished 1-7 in a tough group with both Elizabeta Samara and Shin Yubin. Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz has advanced, finishing 5-3 in a group with Prithika Pavade and Annett Kaufmann.
Next up is the elimination rounds.
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