DAWEI ITTF PRO TOUR GRAND FINALS 2001

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Ma Lin learned to play to 11

2/12/2001
Peter Jensen, ITTF
Farum, Denmark, 2 December 2001

 MA Lin has had his worries about the new counting system playing to 11 – he hasn’t won anything with the shorter games and he obviously hasn’t been feeling well with the new system.
On Sunday he proved that he can learn – he took the title in men’s singles at the Farum Danish Open beating Jan-Ove WALDNER (SWE) 4-1.
WALDNER had fought his way into the final beating Werner SCHLAGER (AUT) and LEE Chul Seung (KOR) but against MA Lin he couldn’t keep up.
The two opponents played beautiful rallies, but WALDNER missed the last 10 pct. to be able to dominate MA Lin and when MA Lin can get in control he is very difficult to beat.
MA took the first game but WALDNER evened to 1-1. Also the following games were close but all the time with the Chinese one step ahead.
“I knew how to play him and in many rallies I succeeded. I had problems with his services though and then it is difficult. Anyway playing in Denmark has been great and I qualified for the Grand Finals. So after all I guess I am quite happy with the weekend”, says WALDNER.
Both MA Lin and WALDNER needed at least a place in the semi-finals to qualify for the Grand Finals in Tianjin, China, in January, and they both succeeded.