(by Steve Hopkins)
Ovtcharov headed to Africa as the third seed in the WTT Contender Lagos. The event featured World No. 12 Jang Woojin and World No. 13 Darko Jorgic as the top two seeds, and all three players were hoping that a good showing here would help launch them back into the Top 10. Unfortunately for the top two seeds, both fell early. Darko Jorgic fell to another talented Chinese player, Sun Wen (World No. 106), in the first round. Woojin only lasted one round further, losing 0-3 to India’s Harmeet Desai in the Round of 16.
Ovtcharov has won four matches and lost only one game in his run thus far. His wins included Park, Liang, Chuang, and Desai. In the other half of the draw, China’s Zhou Qihao defeated Benedikt Duda 3-1, then Patrick Franziska 3-1, and then Jonathan Groth 3-1. Zhou Qihao will now face Dimitrij Ovtcharov on Sunday afternoon.
In Women’s Singles, Shin Yubin entered as the top seed and she has advanced to Sunday’s Final. The second seed was Dina Meshref, who fell in the Round of 16 to China’s Li Yake. Yake is a 21 year old attacker, who not only overtook Dina Meshref but also Barbora Balozova and Wang Xiaotong on her way to the Final. Yake and Shin will face off in the Final on Sunday afternoon.
All three of the Doubles Finals are set to be Korea versus China. In Mixed, Xiang and Liu have already taken the title for China. In Sunday’s Mens doubles Final, Xiang and Yuan of China will face Lim and Jang of Korea, and in Sunday’s Women’s Doubles Final it will be China’s Liu and Fan against Korea’s Jeon and Shin.
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