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The German capacity crowd saw their Dusseldorf heroes, Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov, narrowly lose in the men’s singles at the Worlds today.
Ovtcharov lost 11-9 in the 7th to Japan’s Koki Niwa in the final 16 and former World #1 Timo Boll lost to current World #1 Ma Long 4-2, 11-9 in the 6th in the quarters. Boll was up 8-4 in the 6th game only to lose the 7 of the next 8 points. I saw this match from 3-2, 7-8 where there was a timeout and Timo Boll looked to play Ma Long on his wide forehand after that like many top players do. However, Boll opened too soft or not wide enough and Ma Long won 4 of the next 5 points after the timeout. I didn’t see the bulk of this match so not sure what strategy Boll used before that point. Boll’s signature shot is his inside-out forehand topspin after the backhand loop cross-court but I think that often leaves him vulnerable at the extremes like in the highlight point against Marcos Freitas posted yesterday. The dream run of 13-year old Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan was finished by China’s Xu Xin 4-1 in the quarters. Now the men’s singles are in the semifinals with 3 Chinese, Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Fan Zhendong, along with the big surprise, Lee Sangsu of Korea. Even in China, spectators prefer to say Chinese players play foreign players as opposed to China vs China. Boll, Ovtcharov, Samsonov and the Swedish players from the earlier years like Waldner are well-known and respected in China and their matches with Chinese players are preferred to be watched by spectators than China dominating everything and two Chinese players facing each other.
Ding Ning won her 3rd women’s singles world championship title defeating teammate Zhu Yuling in the final. In men’s doubles, China (Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin) defeated Japan (Yuya Oshima, Masataka Morizono) 4-1 but all 4 games that the Chinese team won were by the minimal 2 point margin. Mixed doubles were won by Japan yesterday. Women’s doubles and men’s singles are the two remaining events that need to be completed with China being heavy favorites to win another two golds.
Highlight point of the women’s singles final:
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