by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Both top seed Patrick Franziska and second seed Darko Jorgic were pressed in 3-2 opening round wins as the WTT Contender Series event got underway in Lima earlier this week.. Franziska lost the first and third games to France’s Vincent Picard, but rallied both times. Jorgic lost the first and fourth games to Ryoichi Yoshiyama of Japan. After the initial push, both of the top seeds had a pretty easy time through the draw – Franziska won 3-1, 3-0, 3-0 on his path to the Final, and Jorgic won his three matches at 3-1, 3-0, 3-1.
Franziska and Jorgic have faced off in a number of tournaments, and Franziska generally has held the upper hand, winning 4 of their 6 previous meetings. Today’s result, however, was never in doubt. Jorgic jumped out to an early lead and coasted to an 11-5 win in the first game. He then won a close second game, and dominated the final 2 games. 4-0 to Darko Jorgic – his first WTT event title.
In the women’s event, Xiaoxin Yang entered as the top seed, but she was upset by Taipei’s Huang Yi-Hua. That upset win by Huang might have been the story of the tournament, except for the dominant performance by second seeded Satsuki Odo of Japan. Odo went 3-0, 3-0, 3-0, 3-0 to reach the Final, and then went 4-0 to claim the title. Of those 16 games won, only 3 were decided by 2 points. Like Jorgic in the Men’s event, Odo rose from the second seed to sweep the Final – and it was also her first ever WTT event win.
The WTT has smaller events coming up in Oman and Kazakhstan, but the big event on the horizon is the WTT Champions Macao which will be held from September 9 – 15.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.
