Duesseldorf Masters: Victory for top seeded Han Ying

July 5, 2020
8:08 pm
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Han Ying is the winner of the Duesseldorf Masters. In the final the number 25 in the World defeated 17-year-old talented Sophia Klee who had caused two tournament upsets on her way to the final. The Women’s Masters was firmly in the hands of the host: in the semi-finals the Germans were in controle. The Duesseldorf Masters will continue next week from Friday to Sunday (July 10-12). Then the men will play their fifth tournament.

Han Ying the top favourite of the tournament prevailed at the ARAG CenterCourt. The draw had given the defensive ace Shan Xiaona from Berlin as the semi-final opponent an outstanding specialist against defensive systems. Tactician Han Ying therefore presented herself in the semi-final against her national team colleague in a decidedly aggressive manner and sought the opportunity at every available opportunity to prevent her opponent from finding her rhythm with offensive attacks. With success: In the end an 11:8 11:5 and 12:10 victory was on the credit side of the 37-year-old.

Han Ying was happy with her victory in the women’s masters especially woth her performance in the preliminary round: “I played pretty relaxed and hadn’t won against Shan for a long time before. I didn’t have any pressure and attacked very well so maybe that made them a bit insecure. But she also didn’t play as well as I expected. Overall my tournament performance was very ok even if I played a bit too relaxed in the final. But congratulations to Sophia she fought very well.

The final match against Sophia Klee 20 years younger was the expected clear-cut affair for Germany’s experienced players with 11:2 8:11 11:3 and 11:7 but the talent from Niestetal in Hessen can be more than satisfied with her performances at the Duesseldorf Masters despite the final defeat. Unseeded the world number 481 winner of the 2017 Europe Youth Top 10 for Cadets defeated in the quarter-finals surprisingly Nina Mittelham (Berlin). Klee confirmed today by winning also against Yuan Wan that the yesterdays victory over the German champion was no coincidence. In the fight for a place in the final the multiple German youth champion who had already shown nerves of steel yesterday when she beat Mittelham 3:2 won 14:12 13:11 and 11:8 against the six years older World Rankings no 163 from Bingen.

Sophia Klee was satisfied: “I am happy about my second place! Ying is of course better by classes and also I don’t like to play against defense. But I hope that there were some good rallies in the final for the spectators at the livestream. The semi-final against Yuan could have been the other way around. Because the first two games were very close and the third one she led 8:3. I am very happy that I reached the final at the Masters. I never expected this.”

Yuan Wan was not very happy about the defeat although the U21 European Championship runner-up from 2017 had fully convinced Barbora Balazova (Slovakia) in the quarter-finals with her success over the 109 places better in the world: “I was happy about my victory against Barbora I had put a lot of energy into the game. But I am sad about the defeat against Sophia and also a bit disappointed. But Sophia played really well against me today. She had a very good tactic and I couldn’t develop my game that way. In the end I ran out of breath.” In the second quarterfinal of the day Shan Xiaona had no problems with world number 77. Sarah de Nutte (Luxembourg) and was satisfied: “I felt very good against Sarah. I was better than yesterday and not so nervous. In the semi-final against Ying I didn’t play so strong but Ying was also very good today.”

Duesseldorf Masters Womens’ Tournament (July 4-5)

Final July 5

Han Ying GER – Sophia Klee GER 3:1 (2 -8 3 7)

Semifinals July 5

Han Ying GER – Shan Xiaona GER 3:0 (8 5 10)

Sophia Klee GER – Yuan Wan GER 3:0 (12 11 8)

Quarter-finals 4-5 July

Han Ying GER – Chantal Mantz GER 3:0 (7 4 7)

Shan Xiaona GER – Sarah de Nutte LUX 3:0 (6 10 3)

Barbora Balazova SVK – Yuan Wan GER 2:3 (-10.4 -9.8 -12)

Nina Mittelham GER – Sophia Klee GER 2:3 (-8 8 -12 9 -5)

Round of 16 July 4th