Photo: HARIMOTO Tomokazu(Japan, left) and CHEN Xingtong(China, right)/ By ittfworld
2019 ITTF World Tour, ASAREL Bulgaria Open was held from August 13th to 18th, with 5 titles, including men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mix doubles.
Chinese top players didn’t take part in the tournament, so Japanese players could result in a good performance.
Men’s results:
Photo: HARIMOTO Tomokazu (Japan) got the singles title./ By ittfworld
In men’s singles, HARIMOTO Tomokazu got the title. Surprisingly, this was the first title he won in this year. ZHAO Zihao (China) became the runner-up, defeating OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (Germany) and ARUNA Quadri (Nigeria).
In round 32, NIWA Koki, who returned to the top 10 in the world for the first time in 3 months, lost straight to MARCOS Freitas (Portugal) who was in good condition.
MARCOS Freitas had defeat CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) and competed with HARIMOTO in the semi-finals. HARIMOTO beat MARCOS Freitas in a straight game and stop his quantum leap.
MIZUTANI Jun won the match against YOSHIMURA Kazuhiro in round 32, and faced with ARUNA Quadri (Nigeria) in quarter finals. MIZUTANI had defeated QUADRI Aruna in the straight game at 2017 World Cup. However he was upset by ARUNA Quadri in an epic seven-game.
In men’s doubles, Korean star JEOUNG Youngsik/LEE Sangsu won the title. UDA Yukiya/YOSHIMURA Kazuhiro, who paired for the first time, won the 2nd place.
Uda/Yoshimura had won the preliminaries, and then fought against Hong Kong’s WONG Chun Ting/HO Kwan Kit. UDA Yukiya and YOSHIMURA Kazuhiro defeat the Hong Kong pair with outrageous power of rally and went through the finals. In the finals, they failed to win the experienced Korean duo, but showed great abilities.
Women’s results:
Photo: ITO Mima lost close match in the semi-finals./By ittfworld
In women’s singles, CHEN Xingtong (China) became the champion by defeating Japanese young stars such as HIRANO Miu and ITO Mima. HE Zhuojia (China) landed on the 2nd place.
ITO Mima faced with CHEN Xingtong winning her way through the semi-finals. with highly skilled serve and receive. Although ITO won against CHEN in 2018 Japan Open, ITO lose more matches. CHEN was a really hard opponent for ITO. Despite leading at the onset of the game, it was a regrettable lost after a close full-game match.
ISHIKAWA Kasumi defeat SZOCS Bernadette (Romania) who is a highest ranked European player in the world, and showed her stable strength. In the quarter finals, she failed to break the Chinese wall because she couldn’t create an advantage in a back-to-back rally against HE Zhuojia.
Chinese GU Yuting/MU Zi secured women’s doubles title, and HIRANO Miu/SHIBATA Saki became the runner-up.
After HIRANO/SHIBATA pair defeated NAGASAKI Miyu/KIHARA Miyu pair in the quarter finals, they defeated even Chinese pair. Although they were expected to win the title keeping their condition, they failed to win the finals and ended up at 2nd place.
Mix doubles results:
Photo: MIZUTANI Jun/ITO Mima won their first title./By ittfworld
MIZUTANI Jun/ITO Mima won their first world tournament title. Chinese chopper doubles MA Te/WU Yang ended up at runner-up. The patient chopper pair was confused by the speed of the Japanese pair’s topspin, and it was almost perfect play.
HARIMOTO Tomokazu/ISHIKAWA Kasumi pair went on to win due to an outstanding combination of ISHIKAWA making chances and HARIMOTO making winning-shots, but they were defeated by the MIZUTANI/ITO pair in the semifinals in a straight game ended up at top 4.
Rallys Editional
