14 years old Annett Kaufmann caused the major upset on day one in Dusseldorf

August 29, 2020
4:19 pm
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On the opening day of the second Women’s Duesseldorf Masters Annett KAUFMANN was the youngest participant in the field but made one of the top four seeded players stumble and reached the semi-finals completely unexpectedly. Her next opponent is title aspirant Nina MITTELHAM. Afterwards double European champion Kristin LANG and the Czech Hana MATELOVA will play for the second participant in the final (12.30 pm). All matches can be seen live on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and on tischtennis.de.

Annett Kaufmann who is 14 years old for two months showed strong nerves and playful class in a match against Marie MIGOT that was fiercely contested from the start and dramatic in the final phase. The runner-up in the European School Girls’ Ranking Tournament 2019 won 11:5 11:13 11:8 9:11 and 12:10 against the six-year-older Frenchwoman who is currently ranked 178 in the world. Two hours earlier left-handed KAUFMANN had already won the duel of the DTTB talents against Yuki TSUTSUI in the round of sixteen.

The girl from Boeblingen said: “Well I am very satisfied. I would not have thought that I play so well. In the beginning it was a very high speed match against Marie which I had to get used to. But in the course of the match I discovered a few weaknesses in her game which I could always take advantage of. I am happy to be in the semi-finals. I definitely didn’t expect this before. I played quite well in my first singles match today although I was too hectic at times and didn’t move well.”

As expected KAUFMANN’S next opponent World Rankings 39th and Double European Champion Nina MITTELHAM had no trouble at all in the quarter-finals with team European Youth Champion Franziska SCHREINER who had stood her ground against 15-year-old Laura KAIM in the morning. However MITTELHAM does not like playing against the talented Bavarian with whom she won the German championship in doubles in 2019.

“For the first match in the tournament my performance was okay today. But to play Franzi it is always unpleasant for me I have already lost against her. That’s why I’m quite satisfied with the 3-0 today.”

Third DTTB ace in the final round is Kristin LANG. The two-time German champion who was placed fifth in the Masters defeated Bavaria’s young talent Naomi PRANJKOVIC in the round of sixteen without being challenged. In the round of the best eight the European Champion in doubles then remained without a game loss thanks to a strong performance against the third placed Luxembourg player Sarah de NUTTE.

Lang was surprised by the result of 3-0: “My first singles match today was my first competition after six months and not so good yet. But my second match was much better and I felt better. I noticed that Sarah wasn’t really in the match at the beginning and I was able to take advantage of that. I had prepared myself for a difficult match because the previous comparisons were always 50:50 but Sarah wasn’t in top form today either.”

LANGS opponent in the semi-final will now be Hana MATELOVA on Sunday at 10:45 am. The second seeded Czech player did not let the Chinese player SHI Qi who plays for Anroechte win a game in the quarter finals.

Matelova confessed after the match: “I was a bit nervous at the beginning because it was my first match in half a year. But then I solved it quite well. The Masters is a great preparation for the next month when hopefully the season games will start again”.

In the morning 33-year-old Shi had held Sophie KLEE’S in check in the round of sixteen on the edge of the knife with 11:8 in the deciding game. The 17-year-old German talent KLEE had caused a stir at the first Ladies’ Masters at the beginning of July with her victory over the German champion Nina MITTELHAM.

Duesseldorf Masters XII 2nd ladies’ tournament (August 29/30)

Final August 30

12.30 pm

Semifinal August 30

Nina Mittelham GER – Annett Kaufmann GER 10 am

Hana Matelova CZE – Kristin Lang GER directly after but not before 10.45 am

Quarterfinal August 29

Nina Mittelham GER – Franziska Schreiner GER 3:0 (7 10 9)

Marie Migot FRA – Annett Kaufmann GER 2:3 (-5 11 -8 9 -10)

Sarah de hooker LUX – Kristin Lang GER 0:3 (-6 -11 -8)

Hana Matelova CZE – Shi Qi CHN 3:0 (5 10 5)

Round of 16 August 29