Wait finally over for Fan Zhendong

Fan Zhendong’s 343-day wait to win the men’s singles title on the ITTF World Tour came to an end on Sunday 13^th October in Bremen, as the Chinese world no. 2 defeated compatriot and world no. 1 Xu Xin to claim German Open glory (5-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, 11-7).

Astonishingly this was Fan’s first singles title on the 2019 World Tour, his last victory tracing back to 4^th November 2018 at the Swedish Open. Over the intervening period, the 22-year-old lost his world no. 1 position to Xu, who went on to rubberstamp his supremacy by picking up three consecutive gold medals at this year’s Japan, Korea and Australian Opens.

It had looked like Fan’s barren streak would continue when “Xu-perman” comfortably won the first game of today’s final in Bremen and had his sights set on equalling the record of four ITTF World Tour men’s singles titles in a calendar year.

However, Fan fought back in style to take the title, the 12^th of his career in the ITTF World Tour men’s singles competition, to raise hopes that he is finally ready to kick on and put a difficult 2019 behind him.

Sun sets on Ito’s hopes of glory

Sun Yingsha celebrated her third women’s singles title of an excellent year so far on the ITTF World Tour. The Chinese teenage talent overcame Japan’s Mima Ito over five emphatic games (11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4) to follow up her Japan and Australian Open victories with gold here in Germany.

Sun’s win confirms her status as the most successful performer from “Generation Z” during 2019, starting her campaign in Bremen second in the World Tour points standings, behind only world no. 1 Chen Meng (CHN). Sun has risen a remarkable 23 places in the last six months up to the no. 6 position.

The victory also means that fellow 18-year-old Mima Ito remains without a women’s singles title on this year’s ITTF World Tour. The world no. 7 and highest-ranked non-Chinese player in the women’s game, Ito was made to endure the heartbreak of a second final defeat in consecutive weeks, following her loss to Chen Meng last Sunday in Stockholm.

Chinese women’s 100% record ends

Korea Republic duo Jeon Jihee and Yang Haeun became the first non-Chinese winners of a women’s event on this year’s ITTF World Tour, beating Japan’s Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki to claim the women’s doubles title (11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-7).

In the men’s doubles final, Xu Xin and Liang Jingkun defeated Germany’s Benedikt Duda and Qiu Dang after the host nation’s unseeded pair took a shock lead and kept their highly fancied Chinese opponents on their toes throughout a highly competitive contest (11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5).

Xu Xin also tasted mixed doubles success in his first ever partnership with Sun Yingsha. China’s two in-form athletes combined brilliantly in Bremen and saw off compatriots Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu in the final (12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7).

Germans do host nation proud

Undoubtedly one of the surprise packages in Bremen, Benedikt Duda and Qiu Dang navigated their journey from the depths of the qualifying rounds all the way to silver medals, following a series of impressive wins over seeded opponents: Ho Kwan Kit / Lam Siu Hang (HKG), Jang Woojin / Jeoung Youngsik (KOR) and Chen Chien-An / Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE) before succumbing to the might of Xu Xin and Liang Jingkun (CHN) at the final hurdle.

While Duda and Qiu outperformed their seeded compatriots in the men’s doubles, Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska, the latter duo would make their mark in the singles competition, both advancing as far as the quarter-finals.

After his epic seven-game victory over Jun Mizutani (JPN), 38-year-old legend Boll fell to eventual champion Fan Zhendong, but his showing in Bremen will have done his chances of qualifying for the 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals no harm at all. Meanwhile, Franziska caused one of the upsets of the tournament in defeating 3^rd seed Lin Gaoyuan (CHN) in just five games before exiting at the hands of Jeoung Youngsik (KOR).

It was also a week to remember for Germany’s Shan Xiaona, the world no. 96 defying her ranking to reach the women’s singles quarter-finals, comfortably knocking out Doo Hoi Kem (HKG) and Hitomi Sato (JPN) before losing out to Feng Tianwei (SGP) when she had led 3-0 before Feng’s epic fightback.

Prior to that classic encounter, Singaporean star Feng grabbed the headlines with her straight games victory over world no. 1 Chen Meng – arguably the biggest shock result of the entire event.

Last stop: Linz!

The 12^th and final destination of the 2019 ITTF World Tour will be the Austrian Open, held between 12^th – 17^th November in Linz.

This represents the last opportunity for players to gain all-important World Tour points and confirm their places for the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals: the prestigious end-of-year showpiece event being staged between 12^th – 15^th December in Zhengzhou, China.

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