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Swedish success continues, day of legends

QATAR TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION

Success in partnership with Swedish colleague, Kristian Karlsson, earlier in the day, when they had beaten the redoubtable Chinese partnership of Ma Long and Zhang Jike in the opening round of the Men’s Doubles event; later in the day at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open in Doha, Mattias Karlsson continued his winning ways.

Not only did he maintain his form, once again he pursued his policy of beating legendary names.


A day to remember for Mattias Karlsson (Photo: Hussein Sayed)

He overcame Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, the no.8 seed and winner in Doha in 2003 and in 2015. Mattias Karlsson recovered from a two games to nil deficit to record a six games success (8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9).

 

“Against Vladi you have to be one hundred percent with your first ball. He changes the service all the time, sometimes short, sometimes half long. You must be alert, you must receive service well and you must take your chances. I lost the first two games, in the second game I was 10-4 ahead, I came back to 10-10 and then lost. After that I played better and my play improved as the match progressed”, Mattias Karlsson

 

Defeat for Vladimir Samsonov but he was not the only casualty as matters came to a conclusion in the lower half of the Men’s Singles draw.

Three further seeds departed. Korea’s Jeoung Youngsik, the no.9 seed, was beaten by Japan’s Masaki Yoshida (7-11, 17-15, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9); whilst Qatar’s Ahmad Al-Mohannadi, the no.16 seed, experienced defeat at the hands of Spain’s Alvaro Robles (11-1, 11-1, 11-6, 11-2).

Clear cut decisions, the departure of the 14th seed, Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira concluded with an air of controversy. China’s Liang Jingkun emerged successful by the minimal two point margin in the deciding game (7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 13-11) but did the last forehand from Liang Jingkun after an exhilarating rally hit the edge or the side? The umpire decided edge but it was mighty close.

Meanwhile as play concluded in the lower half of the draw; the other leading names emerged successful.

China’s Fan Zhendong, the no.2 seed, beat Japan’s Yuya Oshima (11-5, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4); whilst compatriot, Xu Xin, the no.3 seed, ended the hopes of Frenchman, Abdel-Kader Salifou (11-8, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6).

Likewise there were only minimal problems for Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the no.6 seed; he accounted for Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi (11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6).

The second round of the Men’s Singles event will be played on Friday 24th February.

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