Nina Mittelham and Han Ying top seeded
Showtime for the women at the Duesseldorf Masters: A high-class tournament with world-class players HAN Ying and Nina MITTELHAM at the top continues the series of events at the ARAG CenterCourt on Saturday and Sunday before the fifth Men’s Masters is held on the second weekend in July. All matches of the women’s tournament can be seen on both days from 10 a.m. on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and tischtennis.de in live streaming.
A total of 14 players compete for victory in the Women’s Masters. In the field of sixteen absolute world class players mix with talents on their way to the top. The seeding positions one to three will be occupied by German national team players HAN Ying German Champion Nina MITTELHAM (WR 39) and SHAN Xiaona (WR 43).
Double European Champion Nina MITTELHAM is really looking forward to the tournament: “I think it’s great that we ladies finally get the chance to play a Duesseldorf Masters. It won’t be easy to play matches again after such a long break from competition. But I think everyone will give their best and enjoy it a bit. It’s just nice to play against each other again.”
Germany’s number one defensive ace HAN Ying is expecting exciting and high class matches: “I am really looking forward to the tournament. This is a good promotion for table tennis especially for women’s table tennis. I hope that many young girls will get enthusiastic about our sport when they watch the matches live on the internet”.
On the places directly behind two international top players follow with the Slovakian Barbora BALAZOVA (WR 54) and the Luxembourgian Sarah de Nutte (WR 77) who challenges the favourite trio. It also will be interesting to see how the young national team players who are highly ranked in the youth world rankings battle it out with their established rivals in the duels in the round of sixteen. With Sophie KLEE and Anastasia BONDAREVA numbers 18 and 33 of the U18 girls’ world rankings will be at the start while Annett KAUFMANN and Jele STORTZ currently occupy 10th and 27th place in the U15 girls’ world rankings. With Leonie BERGER the 2018 German Cadets’ Champion a native of Duesseldorf Borussia also has a home game on the ARAG CenterCourt.
SHAN Xiaona from Berlin who lives in Duesseldorf runner-up in singles at the 2013 European Championships pragmatically sees the Duesseldorf Masters as an important step towards the new season: “It’s great to get the opportunity to compete during the Corona time. It’s a good opportunity to check your form after so much training.”
Women’s national team coach Jie SCHOEPP who already watched the first four men’s tournaments at the Duesseldorf Masters with great interest is also already looking ahead to September: “Many tournaments have been cancelled due to Corona in the last few months. Now that we have learned that the European Championships in Poland in September will take place as planned we are especially happy to finally have the opportunity to compete again. My team trained well during the competition-free period but something was missing.”
The Duesseldorf Masters organized by Borussia Duesseldorf with the support of the German Table Tennis Federation is held almost weekly from June to August at the ARAG CenterCourt in a knockout system with up to 16 world-class players and is intended to shorten the competition break caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. The fifth men’s tournament will follow next week from Friday to Sunday (10-12 July). In the first four editions Timo BOLL twice Dimitrij OVCHAROV and Bastian STEGER could enter the winners list. All tournaments will be broadcasted live on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and tischtennis.de.
Duesseldorf Masters Ladies’ Tournament (July 4-5)
Round of 16 July 4th
HAN Ying GER (seeding position 1) bye
Nina MITTELHAM GER (2) bye
Sarah de NUTTE LUX (5) – Leonie BERGER GER 10.00
YUAN Wan GER (6) – Naomi PANJKOVIC GER immediately following but not before 10.30
Barbora BALAZOVA SVK (4) – Annett KAUFMANN GER immediately following but not before 11.00
Chantal MANTZ GER (7) – Anastasia BONDAREVA GER immediately following but not before 11.30 a.m.
Yuki TSUTSUI GER (8) – Sophia KLEE GER immediately following but not before 12.00
SHAN Xiaona GER (3) – Jele STORTZ GER immediately following but not before 12.30
Quarterfinal 4 July
HAN Ying – Chantal MANTZ or Anastasia BONDAREVA directly after but not before 13.00
Nina MITTELHAM – Yuki TSUTSUI or Sophia KLEE direct connection but not before 13.35
Quarterfinal July 5
Shan XIAONA or Jele STORTZ – Sarah de NUTTE or Leonie BERGER 10 am
Barbora BALAZOVA or Annett KAUFMANN – YUAN Wan or Naomi PRANJKOVIC directly after but not before 10.35 am
Semifinals July 5
Winner 1st quarter final – Winner 3rd quarter final immediately following but not before 11.35
Winner 2nd quarter final – Winner 4th quarter final immediately following but not before 12.10
Final July 5
1:45 p.m.
List of participants / Seeding List
1 Han Ying GER (WR 25)
2 Nina Mittleham GER (WR 39)
3 Shan Xiaona GER (WR 43)
4 Barbora Balazova SVK (WR 54)
5 Sarah de Nutte LUX (WR 77)
6 Yuan Wan GER (WR 163)
7 Chantal Mantz GER (WR 197)
8 Yuki Tsutsui GER (WR 369)
9 Sophia Klee GER (U18-WR 18)
10 Anastasia Bondareva GER (U18-WR 33)
11 Naomi Pranjkovic GER (U18-WR 119)
12 Leonie Berger GER (U18-WR 191)
13 Annett Kaufmann GER (U15 world ranking 10)
14 Jele Stortz GER (U15 world ranking 27)
