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March 22, 2010

German Open: Predictable and Unpredictable in Berlin

Ma Long Photo By: Ireneusz Kanabrodzki

Courtesy of ITTF Berlin, March 21, 2010 - China’s MA Long, the world no1, won the Men’s Singles title at the German Open in Berlin on Sunday March 21, 2010, as his seeding predicted, but in the counterpart Women’s Singles event it was quite the reverse scenario. FENG Yalan, 20 years old, the World Junior champion in 2006 and the winner one day earlier of the Under 21 Women’s Singles title, totally upset the seeding.

A player with no current world ranking, owing to a lack of international appearances, she won the Women’s Singles title and she did it the hard way.

In the semi-finals she beat top seed, Singapore’s FENG Tianwei before recovering from a three games to one deficit in the final to overcome Chinese national team colleague, DING Ning, the no.2 seed.

Earlier in the day DING Ning had won a grueling semi-final duel against team mate WU Yang, the reigning World Junior champion and an expert in the defensive art.

MA Long, who overcame compatriots CHEN Qi and WANG Hao to secure the Men’s Singles crown, added a second title by partnering CHEN Qi to Men’s Doubles success.

In the third all China final, on the concluding day of play, they beat HAO Shuai and ZHANG Jike, the latter having earlier in the day suffered defeat at the hands of WANG Hao, the reigning World champion and no.2 seed, at the penultimate stage of the Men’s Singles event.

Three titles for China but it was not to be a full house.

Japan’s 21 year old Ai FUKUHARA and 16 year old Kasumi ISHIKAWA secured victory in a thrilling seven games Women’s Doubles final over DING Ning and LI Xiaodan.

Men’s Singles
Semi-Finals
MA Long (CHN) bt CHEN Qi (CHN) 11-9, 6-11, 14-12, 23-21, 11-8
WANG Hao (CHN) bt ZHANG Jike (CHN) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9

Final
MA Long (CHN) bt WANG Hao (CHN) 15-13, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7

Women’s Singles
Semi-Finals
FENG Yalan (CHN) bt FENG Tianwei (SIN) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2
DING Ning (CHN) bt WU Yang (CHN) 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7

Final
FENG Yalan (CHN) bt DING Ning (CHN)
3-11, 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6

Men’s Doubles
Final
CHEN Qi/MA Long (CHN) bt HAO Shuai/ZHANG Jike (CHN)
11-9, 12-10, 11-7, 4-11, 15-13

Women’s Doubles
Final
Ai FUKUHARA/Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) bt DING Ning/LI Xiaodan (CHN)
11-2, 11-13, 12-10, 9-11, 11-2, 5-11, 11-8