XU Xin (CHN) made up for his disappointment of losing last week’s China Open final by becoming the first man to defend his title at the GAC Group 2014 World Tour Super Series Korea Open in the history of the tournament, which concluded today in Incheon, Korea.
singles title in the history of the ITTF Korea Open. Photo by AN Sungho / ITTF.
XU won his second World Tour event of the year by beating team mate FANG Bo (CHN) 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10.
The world number one, who will hope to also bring home gold from the Asian Games which will be held in Incheon later this year, stated: “Although I made history by being the 1st player to successfully defend the title at the Korea Open, what made this title special is that today is Father’s Day, and I would like to dedicate this title to him.”
“It is difficult to play against teammates as they know me very well. All of the Chinese team players have relatively equal high standards, and it is equally difficult to play against them. But we can also take more risks in our play. Maybe I have more international experience and that helped me achieve this win.”
Germany’s HAN Ying did one better than her semifinal performance at the German Open, claiming gold in Korea to help her chances in securing a place at the one million dollar GAC Group 2014 World Tour Grand Finals in Bangkok, Thailand.
HAN blew world number five and number one seed FENG Tianwei (SIN) off the table, winning 11-6, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 in a one sided final.
After receiving the gold medal, 31-year-old HAN stated: “I’ve played in many world tours this year, and each time I will aim to play my best. I certainly didn’t expect to win here in Korea, and I’m feeling very happy about it. I still need to make improvements to my game, and I hope to keep doing well on the international scene.”
“None of the matches in this tournament was easy, and the final against FENG Tianwei was no different.”
13-year-old Japanese protégées Miu HIRANO (JPN) & Mima ITO (JPN) missed out on winning their third ITTF World Tour women’s doubles title by losing in the final to Chinese duo CHEN Ke & WANG Manyu 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.
YU Ziyang & ZHOU Kai secured the third gold for China at the Korea Open by defeating CHIANG Hung-Chieh & HUANG Sheng-Sheng 4-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-4 to clinch the men’s doubles gold.
Reigning Junior World Champion JANG Woojin (KOR) thrilled the large local crowd and confirmed himself as a star of the future by beating countryman CHOI Deokhwa (KOR) 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 to win the men’s under-21 title.
SATO Hitomi (JPN) was too good for the revitalized Lily ZHANG (USA) in the women’s under-21 women’s final. SATO defeated the American 11-8, 11-7, 2-11, 11-9, 11-5.
Here are some stats from Korea Open, where upsets were abound in the men’s singles:
In the men’s singles main draw, there were an unprecedented number of seeded players to fall, and total upsets amounted to 28 of 63 matches, which was 44% percent.
XU Xin won the title, making the Korea Open only the second World Tour event of 2014 where the men’s title was won by the top seed. (The Chile Open in April was won by top seed & youngest ever winner SAMBE Kohei of Japan)
Korea Open was the 11th stop on the 2014 World Tour.
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