(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF)
A Rise in Europe: Another All-German Final
A German Open final today played by two Germans. Add that to an all-German World Cup finals just a few weeks ago, and it’s been a pretty good month for the non-Chinese table tennis World.
<<This isn’t to take away from the great play of two of the world’s most popular players in Sunday’s German Open Final (Ovtcharov and Boll). There were some great points, so be sure to follow the links below.>>
It’s probably appropriate to add a disclaimer here – because my next article is just as likely to be about a dominating performance by a Chinese player (and with so many Chinese players high in the rankings, there are a number of probable suspects). But the facts are the facts – Dimitri Ovtcharov has won two Major events in a row (World Cup and German Open), and the upsets over the Chinese have included Timo Boll over Ma Long (Semis of the World Cup), Tiago Apolonia over Zhang Jike (German Open), and Ovtcharov over Fan Zhendong (Semis of German Open). Xu Xin also lost to Sangsu Lee of Korea in the German Open (Sangsu lost to Boll in the Semis). In fact, the Chinese sent six players to the German Open and only Zhendong made it as far as the Semis.
The German Final looked a lot like the World Cup Final a few weeks ago – Ovtcharov and Boll played evenly early and then the athleticism of Ovtcharov began to dominate the points. Unlike the World Cup, however, Boll’s savvy play kept him in the match until the deciding 7th game. While Boll has always mixed in no-spin balls and tricky serves, in Sunday’s sixth game, he was able to turn the tide with a series of backhand serves he seldom uses in competition and even a reverse tomahawk serve as a surprise. In the end, Boll stemmed Ovtcharov’s momentum, but only for one game. The seventh was dominated from the start by Ovtcharov – and the title was secured.
Video Links:
Tiago Apolonia OVER Zhang Jike: https://youtu.be/C_0ErMNElU4
Timo Boll OVER Ma Long: https://youtu.be/ctBpGIq8Wb4
Dima Ovtcharov OVER Fan Zhendong: https://youtu.be/POoo3mm0cfk
Dima Ovtcharov OVER Timo Boll: https://youtu.be/AupSdLScDoc
