The overall winner of the Dusseldorf Masters is Dang QIU. The world number 52nd from Grunwettersbach clearly defeated his national team colleague Steffen MENGEL (Muhlhausen) in the final match of the final tournament 11:6 11:7 11:4 5:11 and 11:4. The twelfth and last tournament of the Master Series at the ARAG CenterCourt will be the second women’s edition next weekend which will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.
The final became an unexpectedly clear-cut affair after two previously close matches. In the third duel between the two opponents however Dang QIU managed to make an appearance in absolute world class manner against a strong Steffen MENGEL. If the Portugal Open winner failed to open the duel himself for once the penholder ace responded in the first three sets and in the fifth round with an even more aggressive shot or a placement so accurate that it gave him the initiative again after the rally. Only in the fourth game QIU lost the reins against the unattached MENGEL but he took control again in the fifth game and won numerous spectacular rallies.
Dang Qiu who had won tournament seven and was the most consistent of all players throughout the series was happy about the deserved win of the Masters Final: “I played quite well today and it is a nice fact that I won the Final tournament. It’s great that we had the chance to play a competition series with the Düsseldorf Masters in Corona times. That’s important to control our shape and the fact that the matches are streamed live is of course an additional incentive. It’s good to see that since mid-July a few spectators have been allowed to be in the hall again so it’s even bigger motivation.”
Spanish Open semi-finalist Steffen MENGEL who had also reached the final at the Masters premiere and was also one of the most consistent players in the Masters series congratulated the winner: “Dang is in super form and played really well today. After my good semi-final I was hoping to make the final more open. He deserved to win.”
Both Dang QIU and Steffen MENGEL had already presented themselves in brilliant form in their preliminary round matches this morning.
In the first semi-final the later winner Dang QIU didn’t really let the 21-year-old Gerrit ENGEMANN unfold his full potential. The second-league player of TTC GW Bad Hamm who yesterday with his victory over the top favourite and world number 16 Patrick Franziska (Saarbrucken) had caused the Masters exclamation mark of the last three months also today at 9:11 6:11 6:11 11:9 and 7:11 repeatedly proved his class and talent. But the 2019 U21 European Championship runner-up did not find a really tried and tested recipe in his fourth duel with the penholder ace. After all the Westphalian who had started the match strongly managed to win his first game against the man from Grunwettersbach with a remarkable final phase in the fourth game.
For the future however the ambitious man wants more than just a set win: “As I expected it was a difficult match for me. I was able to win my first set against Dang today but unfortunately I didn’t show my best performance. I made too many simple mistakes that should not happen to me so that it might be tighter. But overall I’m satisfied with the Masters final: I played a very good match against Patrick Franziska on Friday. Today it was okay but I have to continue to train hard in order to be able to win against Dang one day. Dang Qiu praised the talent of the DTTB’s U23 squad: “Gerrit did a great job against Patrick Franziska on Friday. Although I had won against him the last few times I knew that it wouldn’t be easy today and therefore I prepared myself accordingly concentrated for the match. Unlike against many international competitors there are no big secrets among each other due to the many joint training sessions. We both knew what to expect.”
Similar to the duel QIU against ENGEMANN Steffen MENGEL always had the better answer to every good ball of the Swede Anton KALLBERG in the second semi-final. KALLBERG who was ranked 57th in the World ranking list and who yesterday threw out of the tournament no. 39 Benedikt DUDA had no chance today at his 5:11 8:11 7:11 and 8:11 performance. MENGEL on the other hand seamlessly continued his outstanding performance in Friday’s 4-0 quarter-final win over multiple African champions Omar Assar (Egypt) commenting on his performance with satisfaction: “As in the quarter-final against Omar things went very well for me today. I got in very well moved well again. I was very safe and scored many of the important little points especially in the short-short game. But Anton can certainly play better than he showed in this semi-final.”
KALLBERG commented: “Steffen played well and very confidently the whole match. I on the other hand made many simple mistakes and didn’t put enough pressure. Unfortunately I didn’t really have a chance today.”
One week after the men’s final tournament a second women’s event will conclude next weekend (August 29-30 starting at 10 a.m.) the twelve-part Masters series which has been held almost every weekend since the beginning of June by Borussia Düsseldorf together with the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB). The first Masters edition of the women’s series was won by Germany’s defensive ace HAN Ying in July.
Düsseldorf’s record European champion Timo Boll and world number 11 Dimitrij Ovtcharov did not start as planned at the men’s final tournament. BOLL had to cancel because of a gastrointestinal disorder OVTCHAROV was not available due to obligations for his Russian club Fakel Gazprom Orenburg.
Düsseldorf Masters Men’s Final Tournament (21 and 23 August)
Final August 23
Dang Qiu GER – Steffen Mengel GER 4:1 (6 7 4 -5 4)
Semifinal August 23
Dang Qiu GER – Gerrit Engemann GER 4:1 (9 6 6 -9 7)
Steffen Mengel GER – Anton Källberg SWE 4:0 (5 8 7 8)
Quarterfinal August 21
Dang Qiu GER – Tobias Hippler GER 4:1 (6 8 -9 4 12)
Patrick Franziska GER – Gerrit Engemann GER 3:4 (6 -9 8 -10 -8 8 -3)
Benedikt Duda GER – Anton Källberg SWE 2:4 (6 -10 -8 -1 9 -10))
Omar Assar EGY – Steffen Mengel GER 0:4 (-3 -5 -4 -2)
