Surprise winner over Ai Fukuhara in the third round of the Women’s Singles event earlier in the year in Hungary prior to progressing to secure the title, Hong Kong’s Tie Yana repeated the achievement yesterday at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open in Doha.
In the second round of the Women’s Singles event, she beat Fukuhara in seven games (11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5), to cause one four upsets as the quarter-finalists were decided.
Currently Fukuhara is listed at No 5 on the Women’s World Rankings and is the No 14 seed in Doha. Tie Yana stands at No 24 in the global and is the No 14 seed.
“Today I feel I was in a better position in the rallies,I was better in the first three strokes instead”, said Tie Yana. “I could feel she was nervous playing against me.”
Next in the order of upsets came from Germany’s Petrissa Solja, the No 12 seed. She beat Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, the No 6 seed, in a six-game duel (8-11, 11-8, 16-14, 13-11, 8-11, 12-10).
Notably for Solja, it was both revenge and repeat; she had lost to Feng Tianwei in the same round in Qatar three years but on their most recent meeting had won when she Feng Tianwei in four straight games at last year’s Women’s World Cup in Sendai, Japan.
There were two more surprises, but not as big as those achieved by Tie Yana and Solja.
Required to compete in the qualification stage of proceedings, Chen Szu-Yu beat colleague and No 13 seed Cheng I-Ching in seven games (11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-7) to book her place in the last eight.
Meanwhile the one other surprise outcome, according to global status, accrued when two players who had been required to compete in the qualification stage of proceedings met.
Listed at No 66 on the current Women’s World Rankings, Li Xue of France overcame Japan’s Yui Hamamoto, named at No 48. Li Xue prevailed in five games (6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8). It was a contest in which the patience, calm nature and solid defensive skills of Li Xue prevailed.
In the Men’s Doubles, Japan’s Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima, the top seeds, lost to China’s Fan Zhendong and Zhang Jike, the No 3 seeds (11-6, 14-12, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7). For Korea’s Jung Youngsik and Lee Sangsu, the No 2 seeds, it was the combination of Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura who ended their adventures.
“We had a bad start in the match, we lost the first two games very easily”, said Morizono. “We managed to come back in the third and fourth to level the score but it was too difficult in the last game.”
There was a crucial stage in the deciding game.
“We were leading 4-3 in the last game, Oshima served and Zhang Jike returned to my backhand, I missed”, added Masataka Morizono. “After that the tide changed in their favour.”