First Day at ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals Sees Several Stars Knocked out

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 11, 2002

First Day at ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals Sees Several Stars Knocked out

The first day of the 2001 Pro Tour Grand Finals of the International Table Tennis Federation saw several stars knocked out Thursday.
China's Liu Guozheng, one of the title favorites, lost to Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium 1-4. Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden was edged out by Ma Lin of China 3-4, despite an earlier 8-3 advantage in the last set. Veteran Kim Taek-soo of the Republic of Korea (ROK) was blanked by young gun Chiang Peng-lung of Chinese Taipei.

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Liu beaten by Saive

The competition between Liu and Saive was fierce from the start, as the two players created many highlights during the game. Belgium's top-ranked men's player Jean-Michel Saive knocked out local favorite Liu Guozheng 4-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 14-12, 14-12) in the first match of the Grand Finals.

Liu, who made an impressive performance at the 46th World Championships, has not adjusted to the 11-point system very well and seemed out of form at the match.

"I did not serve well and I could not find my feet today," Liu said after the match. Yin Xiao, coach of the Chinese men's team, said Liu's tactics were monotonous and he could not grasp the chance when he took the lead.

Saive was extremely happy to win the game. "I knew Liu had a better ring than me in the world ranking and I had nothing to lose," he said. "Since the new scoring system, I have lost many matches and I have been waiting for a victory for a long time. The new rules will bring increasingly more pressure to top players and I will take the chance to improve my world ranking."

Ma Lin Edges Waldner

Chinese Ma Lin turned from survivor to aggressor as he won a dramatically tense fight against Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner at the 2001 ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals.

Though Waldner, the Sydney Olympic silver medalist, led most of the time but narrowly lost 3-4 to Ma with 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 10-12.

When Waldner was one step close to finish the seven-set game at 10-5, it was Ma who overturned the situation, coming back to upset the Swede 12-10.

"My style is to rally from behind and laugh at the end. I had never lost faith in myself no matter how hard the game it was today." Ma, 8th on the Pro Tour ranking, said after the game.

"It was nothing about technical matters when I was 5-10 behind in the decisive set. It was confidence that helped me to go through the difficulties," he said.

Waldner admitted that lack of confidence and too many unforced errors cost his chance to reach the next round.

"I had a poor record against Ma in our previous encounters. I made some mistakes by myself. To be honest, I was close to my best form while Ma was not in 100 percent good form," the Swede veteran said.

Wang Liqin, China's defending champion of both singles and doubles, ousted teammate Ma Wenge 4-1 while Chinese Taipei's Chiang Pung-Lueng stormed past South Korea "Fighter" Kim Taek Soo 4-0.

All Chinese women went through the first round except Bai Yang, who was defeated 0-4by Kim Kyung-ah of ROK.

South Korea's Ryu Ji Hye romped Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus 4-0 and China's Sydney Olympic double gold medalist Wang Nan defeated Kim Hyon Hui of DPRK 4-2. Niu Jianfeng of China edged Lee Eun Sil of South Korea out of the match 4-3. Li Jia and Guo Yan of China both romped past their rivals 4-0.

First Round Results

Men's Singles

Jean-Michel Saive, Belgium, bt Liu Guozheng, China, 4:1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 14-12, 14-12)

Chuan Chih-Yuan, Chinese Taipei, bt Lucjan Blaszczyk, Poland, 4:2 (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-7)

Oh Sang Eun, South Korea, bt Kalinikos Kreanga, Greece, 4:3 (5-11, 6-11, 11-7, 16-14, 11-7, 8-11, 11-2)

Wang Liqin, China, bt Ma Wenge, China, 4:1 (11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 14-12, 11-7)

Ryu Seung Min, South Korea, bt Werner Schlager, Austria, 4-2 (11-3, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 12-14, 11-7)

Chiang Peng-Lung, Chinese Taipei, bt Kim Taek Soo, South Korea 4-0 (11-8, 14-12, 11-7, 11-7)

Ma Lin, China, bt Jan-Ove Waldner, Sweden 4-3 (5-11, 11-6, 8-11,11-6, 11-6, 5-11,12-10)

Trinko Keen, Netherlands, bt Timo Boll, Germany 4-3 (11-4, 6-11,11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10)

Women's singles

Ryu Ji Hye, South Korea, bt Viktoira Pavlovich, Belarus, 4:0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8)

Niu Jianfeng, China, bt Lee Eun Sil, South Korea, 4:3 (11-13, 11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 13-11)

Li Jia, China, bt An Konishi, Japan, 4:0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-6, 11-4)

Aya Umemura, Japan, bt Jie Schopp, Germany, 4:1 (11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5)

Guo Yan, China, bt Liu Jia, Austria, 4-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-9, 11-2)

Kim Kyung Ah, South Korea, bt Bai Yang, China, 4-0 (11-7, 11-8,13-11, 11-6)

Wang Nan, China, bt Kim Hyon Hui, DPR Korea, 4-2 (11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6)

Tamara Boros, Croatia, bt Yuka Nishii, Japan, 4-3 (6-11, 12-10,7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9)

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