Gulf Times
China’s Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at the ITTF Qatar Open in Doha yesterday. Zhendong put on an all-round masterclass to beat Liam Pitchford of England 4-2 (11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7), while Meng beat Japan’s Mima Ito in five games to win 4-1 (3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7).
Understandably all the attention prior to the final was centred on Pitchford, the no.15 seed who defied the odds to reach the final. Pitchford had beaten Belarusian legend Vladimir Samsonov, in form Chinese Taipei player Chuang Chih-Yuan and pulled off arguably the shock of the tournament with his stunning 4-2 win over World no.1 Xu Xin, becoming the first Englishman to reach a World Tour Platinum event men’s singles final.
While 14 positions separated Zhendong from Pitchford in the seeding there was a sense of unpredictability heading into the final – this was after all the first head-to-head contest between the two on the ITTF World Tour.
Both players were switched on right from the word go as Zhendong and Pitchford went in chase of an early lead. It was Zhendong who looked the more comfortable of the two at the start and found himself 2-0 up with under 20 minutes.
Pitchford began to up the pace, forcing Zhendong from side-to-side and it appeared to work as the Englishman opened his account in game three. Zhendong’s incredible power proved too hot to handle in game four but Pitchford reduced the deficit once again. With the scores sitting at 3-2, the question was whether Pitchford could force a deciding seventh game? Spectators were wowed with sensational point after sensational point as both finalists gave it their all. A match for the ages, it seems a shame that it was brought to an abrupt halt as Fan’s shot clipped the back edge of the table to bring the match to a close.
Zhendong now holds a total of 14 ITTF World Tour men’s singles titles, two of which have come at the Qatar Open having also won in Doha in 2018. As for Pitchford, he can return home with his head held high following a truly inspiring campaign in Doha.
Meanwhile, top seed Meng was expected to win against the no.3 seed but Mima Ito was in a rich vein of form. She had overwhelmed China’s Ding Ning, the no.6 seed (11-6, 14-12, 11-0, 11-5), arguably the greatest female player of the past decade.
The last time Meng had lost a women’s singles match on the international stage was on 11th October when she was soundly beaten in the second round at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open by Singapore’s Feng Tianwei (11-6, 11-2, 11-4, 11-8). Now Meng has gone 150 days without defeat.
Prior to losing in Germany she had won in Sweden; her immediate prior loss to that being in Yokyakarta, when on 21st September at the 2019 ITTF Asian Championships, she had experienced a semi-final defeat at the hands of colleague Liu Shiwen.
In Doha Meng made it four in a row; all on the ITTF World Tour, she succeeded in the Grand Finals in Lisbon; then last year in Sweden and again at the Grand Finals. Furthermore, Meng has held top spot on the women’s world rankings since June 2019. Mima Ito seemed to lose her fire after beating China’s Olympic champion Ding Ning in the semi-final on Saturday. Despite quickly discovering her rhythm in the first game and magically saving some points from Chen’s forehand attacks, Ito didn’t find much control over the rest of the match.
Chen, on the other hand, asserted her dominance with her all-round technical capability. After losing the first game, Chen improved steadily and won four games in succession.
China’s table tennis team is already eyeing Mima Ito as its biggest rival at the Tokyo Olympics, so Chen’s good performance will undoubtedly increase her chances of representing her country at the Games. Chen has sealed victories in all three of her matches with Ito. Their last encounter was the women’s singles semi-final at the World Tour Grand Finals last December in Zhengzhou, China, which Chen also won 4-1.