Chung's Notes: I have come to Osaka to watch the last three days of the competition. I have signed on with AOL so that I can access the internet in Japan. My postings will be shorter, I think, because I am busy watching the events, and because internet access is pretty expensive. I have to pay for accessing AOL, which is about $4/hr, plus the hotel local call charges. . Also, most of the articles on the day's matches have not yet appeared on the internet yet, as I am writing this. BTW, it is a pain browsing the web using an analog modem: once you have broadband access, there is no going back Here's what I saw the first day (May 4):
Mixed Doubles:
The semifinals were played concurrently on two tables. I mostly watched the Liu/Sun vs Kim/Oh match, although I did notice a lot of exciting points on the other table. Liu was not accurate and made a lot of errors. The scores were close, but because the Liu/Sun pair played a relatively high-risk game (Liu and Sun are both hitters, not loopers), when they were slightly off, they ended up making a lot of errors. Liu/Sun lost 1-3 to avoid an all-China final. The Bai/Zhan vs Qin/Yang match was close with a lot of very quick rallies: Bai Yang is a very quick player. At the end Qin/Yang just had more experience, and they also won in 4.
The final was actually a good match to watch, if you like to see good doubles play or if you are a fan of the Chinese. Yang Ying was playing as well as I have seen her play in doubles, smashing decisively and accurately. Qin Zhijian is a wonderful player, with a great control loop and precise ball placements. Qin and Ma used to be a very good men's doubles pair, as recently as the last Worlds in Eindhoven. I think the Chinese doubles players are much better than those from other countries because they really understand how to control the ball through placement and tempo changes. In contrast, a player like Oh might have a great backhand, but only if he could get set, and Qin/Yang never gave him a chance to get set. Oh made many mistakes in the match, and he appeared to be out of sync. Qin, with his looping ability, allows his side to go into longer rallies, unlike Liu Guoliang who is weak when he has to play away from the table. I later read that Oh has a bad shoulder, and perhaps that was why he played so poorly. Too bad very few people could see this match because the videotapes usually carry very little doubles, especially mixed-doubles, coverage. Third title of this Worlds to China.
Women's Singles, Quarter-Finals
The quarters were played two matches at a time, over two tables side by side. First up was Wang Nan vs Li Nan, and Niu Jianfeng vs Zhang Yining. The Wang-Li match was not close. Wang just had too much experience playing penholders to give Li Nan any chance. She seemed to be able to explore Li's deep forehand at will. Li uses inverted on her forehand, but strangely, she is a hitter, not a looper, and her real strength is blocking. Her blocking reminds me of Chiang Peng-Lung's; it's that quick. Wang Nan won 3-0.
The Zhang-Niu match may be the best match of the day. The two players are lightning-fast, and they played a lot of backhand rallies that have to be seen. The scores were close, except in the final game when Zhang pulled away mid-game and won by a wide margin. The turning point in the match was probably when Niu had a 15-10 lead in the 3rd game, and managed to give up a string points to lose the game at 17. Niu has a great forehand serve not unlike the "axe" serve of Japan's Takeda (of the Takeda/Kawagoe pair), and it took Zhang until the last game to feel comfortable receiving that serve. Niu may very well be one of the top 3 women players in China (and therefore the world) right now; she is that impressive. Finally, Zhang just had a little bit more confidence, and perhaps big-game experience, to win the 5th game decisively. Again, too bad that not too many people will be able to see this great match; the video tapes just don't carry much women's events.
One interesting phenomenon is that when these two matches were played, there was very little crowd noise, except when the players played some long rallies. Maybe it was because all 4 players were Chinese, so the spectators did not quite know who to cheer.
The next match was Kim Yun Mi (N. Korea) vs Mihaela Steff (Romania). Kim upset Li Ju and beat Toth to get here. She plays a nowadays unusual style: penhold with inverted on forehand and long-pips on the reverse side. She uses the long pips side on probably 80% of her backhand shots. This style is difficult to play against, because of the huge difference in the ball's behavior depending on which surface is used to strike the ball. Steff, being an European, probably did not have enough experience playing the non-conventional styles, and made a lot of errors on her forehand loops, especially in the 2nd game. The Korean supporters were making a lot of noise, and that must have been distracting to Steff, as well as to Zhang and Niu playing on the next table. Anyway, the end result is that Steff lost 0-3, but only the second was a blow-out. I can't help but think that Steff maybe is fundamentally the better player; her loops are very strong. If she had a little more experience playing against different styles, she might have won this match.
The last match, and it started late because the Zhang-Niu match was a 5-game affair, was played by Lin Ling and Liu Jia (Austria). Lin is a solid player, a little old (I believe she is now 24) by Chinese women standards, and plays a "European" style, i.e., she loops both forehand and backhand, and can play rallies away from the table. Liu Jia, originally from Beijing, plays a conventional Chinese shakehand style: her backhand is more countering and hitting than looping. Lin is much more mature, and consistent, and won in 3. The games were not one-sided, but one just knew that Lin was going to win. She made fewer errors, was able to initiate attacks, and had no obvious weaknesses. Liu will be a good player in Europe, but she is not as polished as her Chinese counterparts. Surprisingly, Cai was coaching Lin Ling.
An interesting side-note: Liu Jia, Singapore's Li Jia Wei, Hong Kong's Wong Ching, and China's Zhang Yining all grew up in Beijinjg, and are close in age. Now they play for 4 different associations.
So no European woman made the final 4. I think the most prominent characteristic of the Chinese women's game is the great speed. The second most prominent characteristic is the very lively ball placement by the Chinese: they seem to be able to change the attack lanes (cross-court to down-the-line, and vice-versa) easily and frequently. Then there is the great variety of playing styles in China, or more accurately, the lack of variety of style in Europe. European women may do well against other inverted shakehand loopers, but facing other styles, like choppers, or pips-out, or long-pips, takes an adjustment that they do not have the time for in a match. The Chinese domination is here to stay.
Tomorrow's semifinals will pit Wang Nan against Zhang Yining and Lin Ling against Kim Yun Mi. The Wang-Zhang match should be a great one; these two players are probably the best in the world right now, and they match up evenly. Lin Ling should win, if she can handle the long-pips of Kim, and I guess that she will.
Men's Singles, Round of 16
Lots of Asia-vs-Europe match-ups in this round, and Asians win every one. Again, like in the women's singles, the Asians seem to play with greater speed, and at least equal, if not more, power.
Wang Liqin vs Persson: Wang started slowly, as usual. It is almost like he is so confident that he does not mind giving the opponent the lead, or even a game to start things off; he knows he can catch up and overtake. He started slow against Persson, finally got a lead, was up 20-18, and then lost the next 4 points. Game one to Persson. It is, however, obvious that Persson's strength is his backhand, and Wang is at least equal to Persson on the backhand. On the forehand, Wang is much more deadly. It is just a matter of time when Wang can exploit that advantage. Barring huge mental breakdowns, Wang is going to beat Persson. Finally he did, being able to open the lead at the end of each of the last 3 games.
Kim vs Primorac: Kim won in three, although the match was actually quite close. I mainly watched the Wang-Persson match, but I did notice that there were a lot of great returns of power loops that should have finished points. Kim showed a great ability to stay in the game when pinned on his backhand side and far from the table: his backhand half-lobs were very consistent, and Primorac could not smash-kill them as much as he should. Kim in three games. I have also read that Kim's new wife has come to watch him play, and that might explain his superior performance in the singles so far.
Liu Guoliang vs Adrian Cristan (Romania): This was over very quickly. Liu held a clinic on how to play pips-out penholder style. Cristan may be a future star, but today, he looked very ordinary. Maybe Liu needed a match like this to break out?
Chiang Peng-Lung vs Timo Boll: Chiang just has too much power for Boll. Also Boll was not good in returning Chiang's serves. Not able to flip or otherwise attack Chiang's no-spin serves, Boll frequently waitied and weakly looped the serve back, and Chiang knew what to do with weak loops from opponents. It was not a one-sided match in score, but one knew that Chiang was going to win, very early in the match.
Ma Lin vs Rosskopf: Rosskopf had a lot of problems returning Ma's short serves, just like he had against Liu Guoliang. Ma executed the 3rd ball kill almost to perfection, frequently to Rosskopf's deep forehand. Ma had exceptional control in returning Rosskopf' serves short, and basically gained control of the tempo of the match. Ma won 3-1, but it could easily have been 3-0.
Schlager vs Liu Guozheng: Another 3-1 win for China. This one is closer than the other 2. Liu showed great ability to cover his deep forehand despite his lack of height, while Schlager showed his great backhand hitting. The first two games were all 22-20 affairs, with the score 1-1 afterwards. Then Liu showed just a little more power than Schlager and won the next two, with the last game not close at all.
Waldner vs Samsonov: What was expected to be a great match was very one-sided, more than the score indicates. Waldner is much slower than before. He could put in the first loop, but he just could not finish points against Samsonov, who was better in every aspect of the game. The big ball really hurt Waldner, or maybe it is just age. His shots lacked power, and he could not cover his forehand. Samsonov could just get into the rally and wait: sooner or later, Waldner would make an error. It is amazing how big the change in Waldner's game has been since the Olympics. Samsonov still plays a very deliberate style, but his defense is rock solid and makes up for the lack of speed or apparent power. These two players seem to play a much slower game than the others in this round.
Kong vs Chila: Chila was totally outplayed, and this was over after the first few points have been played. Kong controlled the placement, the tempo, and the match. One has to wonder how Chila got into this round, judging by this match. I read later that Kong had a cracked racket in the earlier round, and that might have been the reason why he had a close call against Maze. Now Kong seems be getting better, finally.
Tomorrows match-ups: Wang vs Kim, Liu GL vs Chiang, Ma vs Liu GZ and Kong vs Samsonov. All very close matches, on paper at least. China is assured of at least one semifinalist, and maybe 4. It is more and more looking like China against the Rest Of The World.
Wang Liqin and Yan Sen in doubles win over Chiang Peng-Lung and Chang Yan-Su