Duesseldorf Masters III
All four top seeds reached the semi-finals of the third tournament of the Duesseldorf Masters. The matches of the preliminary round (starting at 10 am) with the duels between Germany’s stars Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Dang QIU as well as Kanak JHA (USA) and the Egyptian Omar ASSAR will be streamed live on Wednesday as well as the final (2 pm) on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and on tischtennis.de.
One week after his success over the world rankings no. 76 Alberto MINO (Ecuador) Gerrit ENGEMANN (TTC GW Bad Hamm) once again put himself in the limelight. Although the runner-up of the 2019 European Under-21 Championship was defeated by the 27th ranked Kanak JHA in six games the second-placed American had to use all his skills in the tight game to prevent the 20-year-old Westphalian from winning the decisive game by 13-11 in the sixth game.
In the end JHA was happy to have saved the win back home: “It was a very close match. I think every game was fought until the end. I hope that I will play better tomorrow than I did today.”
Omar ASSAR kept 19 years old Cedric MEISSNER on 4-1 distance in the quarter finals. Although the Egyptian had to accept the game equalization against the former German Youth Champion and Youth Olympic participant he mastered the following rounds despite a good performance of the player from Mainz. On Wednesday the number 38 in the world will play against Kanak JHA for a place in the final (2 pm). The first of the two semi-final duels starts at 10 am.
The world number eleven Dimitrij OVTCHAROV played four sovereign games against Tobias HIPPLER and did not really let the 21-year-old newcomer of the 1st FC Köln into the game. In the second semi-final on Wednesday however the 2017 World Cup winner will have to stretch himself more. His opponent will be his national team colleague Dang QIU. The winner of the Portugal Open defeated OVTCHAROV in the quarter-finals of the first Masters but the Swabian lost the final at the second tournament a week ago without having a chance.
Dang QIU had to play over six games in the top eight today unlike his opponent tomorrow after Fanbo MENG reduced his lead to 2-3 after losing the first three games in a row to the world number 52nd. The 19-year-old talent like ENGEMANN against ASSAR made a remarkable showing but QIU didn’t let the left-hander from Fulda come near the deciding game after the tie for a 3-2 draw.
The favorite didn’t feel as fresh today as usual: “I must say I’m a little tired. I am now playing the third tournament in a row. But it will be similar for everyone. I started very well with a 3-0 lead. Then FANBO stepped up so I had to step on the gas again to get this thing home.”
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 participants. The series concludes with a final tournament with eight professionals for which five athletes qualify by scoring points and three receive a wildcard. All matches will be broadcast live with several cameras on sportdeutschland.tv Borussia TV and tischtennis.de. Spectators on site are not allowed due to the Corona pandemic.
QUOTES
Dimitrij Ovtcharov: “I think that Hippi has kept up with me right up to the middle of each movement. In the end I still put a shovel on it. I actually felt good but against Hippi it is always difficult to develop a rhythm because he has an unpleasant game. So I’m happy with the game.”
Dang Qiu: “I must say I’m a little tired. I am now playing the third tournament in a row. But it will be similar for everyone. I started very well with a 3-0 lead. Then Fanbo improved so much that I had to step on the gas again to bring this thing home.”
Kanak Jha: “It was a very close match. I think every game was fought until the end and most of them ended with only two points difference. I hope I’ll play better tomorrow than I did today.”
Omar Assar: “Cedric Meissner is a very strong player. But I am also very happy about my game and my performance. Let’s see what is possible tomorrow in the semi-finals. I wish Cedric and all the other young German players lots of fun at the next tournaments.”
Duesseldorf Masters 3. tournament (15.-17. June)
Semi Finals June 17 (in chronological order)
Kanak Jha USA – Omar Assar EGY 10am
Dimitrij Ovtcharov – Dang Qiu immediately afterwards but not before 11 a.m.
Quarter Finals June 16
Dimitrij Ovtcharov – Tobias Hippler 4:0 (7 8 8 8)
Dang Qiu – Fanbo Meng 4:2 (4 6 4 -9 -8 7)
Omar Assar EGY – Cedric Meissnerr 4:1 (5 -10 6 7 2)
Kanak Jha USA – Gerrit Engemann 4:2 (12 9 -8 9 -8 11)
Best 16 June 15
No match: Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Tobias Hippler – Kirill Fadeev 4:1 (7 5 8 -6 8)
Fanbo Meng – Tobias Slanina 4:0 (6 3 7 10)
Dang Qiu – André Bertelsmeier 4:0 (8 5 7 8)
Omar Assar EGY – An Duy Dang 4:0 (3 5 6 3)
Nils Hohmeier – Gerrit Engemann 0:4 (-4 -5 -8 -5)
No match: Kanak Jha USA
