Katerina Penkavova Right: Players in action during the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open table tennis tournament yesterday.
Even as the men’s top seeds sailed through to the second round, the women’s section saw a major surprise in the opening round of the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open, yesterday.
Czech Republic’s Katerina Penkavova was the cynosure of all eyes at the Qatar Women Sport Committee Hall, after the unseeded knocked out second seed Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan in a thrilling seven games encounter 11-7, 11-3, 4-11, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7.
Penkavova, who reached the second round of the ITTF World Tour for the second time, was in unbelievable form as she matched stroke-to-stroke to Ishikawa.
“It’s for the first time I’ve ever played Kasumi,” said a delighted Penkavova.
“And it’s only the second time I’ve ever reached the second round of an ITTF World Tour event,” the Czech added with a beaming smile.
The previous occasion was good five years back, in 2009 at the Slovenian Open.
Perhaps, facing an opponent with the quality of Ishikawa, who has been in top form, Penkavova had nothing to lose. And she played fearlessly.
“I didn’t have any nerves as I had nothing to lose and in my head I felt strong. The tactic was to use my backhand to the middle and to her backhand. I also sometimes switched to the forehand,” noted Penkavova, throwing light to her victory.
However, it was much easier said than done. After having lost the first two games, Penkavova bounced back to take the next two. The fifth game went to Ishikawa but Penkavova too the game to decider by taking sixth, before keeping her nerves for a massive victory.
The other highlights of the day, was thirteen-year-old Miu Hirano, who beat Germany’s Wu Jiaduo, the No. 21 seed and former European champion 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9. While, Miu Hirano shocked sixth seed Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching 8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8.
Top seed Feng Tianwei of Singapore had little trouble in dispatching Japan’s Yui Hamammoto 8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, while third seed Korea’s Seo Hyowon beat Russia’s Yana Noskova 12-10, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.
Men’s top seeds had little trouble. Defending champion Ma Long of China booked his second round spot with a clinical 11-5, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 win over lucky loser Kenji Matsudaira of Japan.
World No.1 and Qatar Open 2011 and 2012 winner, Xu Xin also had a smooth passage as the Chinese defeated Lei Kou of Ukraine 11-9, 7-11, 4-11, 5-11, 7-11.
Third seed and 17-year-old Fan Zhendong also of China, however, had to face stiff resistance from Assar Omar of Egypt, before he prevailed 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-6. Fan Zhendong, who is coming off having won the Kuwait Open a week back, lost his concentration after winning the first three games, losing the next two to stubborn Omar. But Zhendong showed his class to claim the sixth game and pocket the match.
Other top seed, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, China’s Yan An, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus and Japan’s Jun Mizutani also booked their place in the next round.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s challenge in the singles event came to an end after both Ahmad al-Mohannadi and Aia Mohamed lost their respective men’s and women’s matches.
Al Mohannadi went down to Joao Monteiro of Portugal 0-4 (4-11, 7-11, 8-11, 6-11), while Aia lost to Chinese Taipei’s Lee I-Chen 7-11, 3-11, 1-11, 3-11.