Japan Open: Croatian Men Continue to Cause Upsets
May 23, 2008

Zoran Primorac

Courtesy of ITTF On the opening day of play, Croatia caused one of the major surprises by beating fourth seeds Japan at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Team event at the Volkswagen Open Japan in Yokohama; one day later, Thursday May 22, 2008, they did even better.

They beat Korea, the second seeds and runners up in the recent Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships, to book a place in the final.

They won by three matches to two and it could have been even more decisive.

Croatia won the opening two encounters with Tan Ruiwu beating Ryu Seung Min and Zoran Primorac accounting for Yoon Jae Young. In the doubles contest Oh Sang Eun and Yoon Jae Young scraped home 13-11 in the decisive fifth game against Tan Ruiwu and Andrei Gacina to reduce the match arrears; then in the next encounter Andrej Gacina led Ryu Seung Min by two games to nil and 10-8 before the Korean recovered to win in five games.

Matters level, experience came to the fore with Zoran Primorac defeating Oh Sang Eun to complete a stunning Croatian success.

In the final the European heroes meet top seeds China who with Wang Hao, Ma Lin and Wang Liqin on duty ended the brave run of the Brazilians, Thiago Monteiro, Gustavo Tsuboi and Cazuo Matsumoto.

Similarly, the Chinese women had few problems in their penultimate round contest and like the men it was farewell for Korea but in less dramatic circumstances.

China’s Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan showed no mercy in recording a three-nil victory over Korea’s Dang Ye Seo, Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young.

At the final hurdle, they will meet the Singapore team of Wang Yue Gu, Li Jia Wei and Feng Tianwei.

They overcame a spirited German team three-one to book their place in the final with Wu Jiaduo extending Feng Tianwei the full five games distance and the pairing of Zhenqi Barthel and Elke Wosik recording a fine win over Li Jia Wei and Wang Yue Gu; both players currently occupying places in the top ten of the ITTF Women’s World Ranking list.

Men's Singles - Round of 32

Wang Hao (CHN) vs. Kaii Yoshida (JPN): 4-0
(11-6, 11-7, 11-3, 11-7)

Taku Takakiwa (JPN) vs. Li Chinq (HKG): 0-4
(11-5, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7)

Kan Yo (JPN) vs. Lee Jung-Woo (KOR): 4-0
(11-8, 11-5, 11-3, 11-8)

Jorgen Persson (SWE) vs. Chen Qi (CHN): 1-4
(6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 14-12, 11-4)

Joo Se-Hyuk (KOR) vs. Ruiwu Tan (CRO): W.O. 0-0

Jon Persson (SWE) vs. Werner Schlager (AUT): 3-4
(11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6)

Yang Zi (SIN) vs. Joao Monteiro (POR): 1-4
(11-3, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7)

Jiang Tianyi (HKG) vs. Ma Long (CHN): 1-4
(11-9, 12-14, 11-8, 11-3, 11-9)

Wang Liqin (CHN) vs. Yoon Jae-Young (KOR): 4-0
(11-5, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7)

Robert Gardos (AUT) vs. Tang Peng (HKG): 3-4
(11-7, 11-5, 2-11, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8)

Zoran Primorac (CRO) vs. Zhang Jike (CHN): 2-4
(3-11, 11-4, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6, 11-3)

Chiang Peng-lung (TPE) vs. Oh Sang-Eun (KOR): 4-2
(11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6)

Ryu Seung-Min (KOR) vs. Cheung Yuk (HKG): 0-4
(13-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9)

Leung Chu-yan (HKG) vs. Chuan Chih-yuan (TPE): 4-2
(11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5)

Michael Maze (DEN) vs. Lee Jin-Kwon (KOR): 4-2
(7-11, 12-14, 11-5, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8)

Ma Lin (CHN) vs. Masato Shono (JPN): 1-4
(11-3, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-1)

Women's Singles - Round of 32

Zhang Yining (CHN) vs. Elizabeta Samara (ROU): 4-1
(5-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9)

Georgina Pota (HUN) vs. Li Jiao (NED): 4-2
(11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3)

Sun Bei Bei (SIN) vs. Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN): 4-0
(11-7, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10)

Yuka Ishigaki (JPN) vs. Wang Yue Gu (SIN): 1-4
(11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6)

Guo Yan (CHN) vs. Haruna Fukuoka (JPN): 4-0
(11-5, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5)

Zhenqi Barthel (GER) vs. Feng Tianwei (SIN): 1-4
(11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7)

Tie Yana (HKG) vs. Hiroko Fujii (JPN): 4-0
(11-2, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8)

Dang Ye-Seo (KOR) vs. Wang Nan (CHN): 4-3
(11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-2)

Li Xiaoxia (CHN) vs. Elke Schall (GER): 4-1
(11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-2, 11-2)

Wu Jiaduo (GER) vs. Kim Kyung-Ah (KOR): 3-4
(10-12, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9)

Ai Fukuhara (JPN) vs. Daniela Dodean (ROU): 4-0
(11-1, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9)

Wang Chen (USA) vs. Jiang Huajun (HKG): 2-4
(8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6)

Li Jia Wei (SIN) vs. Tamara Boros (CRO): 4-0
(11-2, 12-10, 13-11, 11-7)

Cao Zhen (CHN) vs. Lin Ling (HKG): 4-1
(11-6, 4-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-6)

Sayaka Hirano (JPN) vs. Lau Sui-fei (HKG): 3-4
(11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3)

Lee Eun-Hee (KOR) vs. Guo Yue (CHN): 0-4
(11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4)