Fifth-seeded Petrissa, who had beaten No. 1 seed Zhu Yuling
in the team championships the other day, punctured the pride of China yet
again, toppling fourth seed Liu Gayong 4-2 (6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8,
11-8) to earn her entry into the semifinals where she will taken on Zhu
Yuling tomorrow. ThusPetrissa has stopped a clean sweep of medals by China .
In girls’ other quarterfinals, Zhu Yuling had her anxious
moments before overcoming her Romanian opponent Bernadette Szocs 4-0 while
No. 2 seed Gu Yuting accounted for No. 7 Ayuka Tanioka of Japan 4-0 and
fourth seeded Gu Ruochen defeated Lily Zhang, No. 10 seed, by the same margin
of 4-0. The other semifinal pits Gu Yuting against Gu Ruochen.
What made Petrissa’s day here was the superb technique she
adopted to counter her Chinese rival. The German was put up a great show of
good service and equally good receive.
The 18-year-old Germany later admitted: “I watched
her videos before the match and initially tried to play to her forehand
but then I found she was good at it. So I changed strategy midway and played to
her backhand. Initially I had problems with my serve too but as I began to play
better, the serve too got better. I tried to focus on ball to ball and not push
at the ball. Difficult to say if this is my best win as I cherish the title
victory at the U-21 German open,” said the fifth seed.
As for the other Chinese who made the semifinal grade, their
matches turned out to be one-sided affairs, including the one against
Japanese Ayuka Tanioka whose rhythm was upset by Gu Yuting right from the
word go.
However, in the junior boys section, it will be all Chinese
semifinals. Sixth seed Fan Shengpeng packed off No. 4 Simon Gauzy of France 4-3 in a
thrilling quarterfinal match. The other quarterfinals did not generate the same
kind of fervour with Fan Zhendong beating Yuto Muramatsu of Japan 4-1, Xu
Chenhao demolishing Benedikt of Germany 4-0 and Lin Gaoyuan completing
the against Japanese Yoshida Masaki with a 4-1 verdict.
Indian challenge ends
Earlier in the day, the Indian challenge came to an end when
Ayhika Mukerjee and Suthirtha Mukherjee exited in the pre-quarterfinals with
their heads held high. Ayhika, proved to the best among the Indian lot, as she
managed to take a game off her US
opponent Zhang Lily, going down 11-9, 7-11, 6-11, 4-11, 7-11 while poor
Suthirtha succumbed to the Chinese second seed Gu Yuting in straight sets.
Ayhika later admitted that her opponent was more experienced
but she could have extended to one or two games more. “After winning the first
game, I should have attacked more but Lily was too good with her backhand
scorchers. She blocked well and her returns were too good,” said the
15-year-old Kolkatan.
But Suthirtha found herself pitted against a red hot Gu
Yuting who is expected to reach the final here. Expectedly, Gu sent down
a barrage of forehands and backhands straightaway unsettling the Indian. The
pattern continued throughout the 25-minute match that the No. 2 seed won 11-2,
11-6, 11-3, 11-3.
Nevertheless, Suthirtha was happy about her performance
here. “I got the right exposure here and I am happy about it. Playing against
Gu was intriguing and it showed when I stood against an opponent of her caliber,”
confessed Suthirtha.
In the boys section, two other seeds fell by the way in the
morning when fifth and sixth seeded Asuka Sakai from Japan
in the top half and Tristan Flore from France , respectively, bowed out in
the round of 16. Sakai
lost to unseeded Fan Shengpeng 1-4 while another unseeded Chinese Zu Chenhao
blanked out Flore 4-0.
Results:
Quarterfinals:
Junior Boys: Fan
Zhendong (Chn) bt Yuto Muramatsu (Jpn) 11-7, 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 12-10, Fan
Shengpeng (Chn) bt Simon Gauzy (Fra) 8-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6,
Xu Chenhao (Chn) bt Benedikt (Ger) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10, Lin Gaoyuan (Chn)
bt Yoshida Masaki (Jpn) 13-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5.
Junior Girls:
Solja Petrissa (Ger) bt Liu Gaoyang 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8,
11-8, Zhu Yuling (Chn) bt Bernadette Szocs (Rou) 11-8, 12-10, 11-6, 15-13,
Gu Yuting (Chn) bt Ayuka Tanioka (Jap) 11-7, 12-10, 13-11, 11-3, Gu Ruochen
(Chn) bt Lily Zhang (USA) 11-6, 11-2, 11-5, 11-9.
A TTFI Press release
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