7/2/2006 CHILE Open

Austria’s Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos won the Men’s Doubles title at the Liebherr Chile Open in Santiago on Sunday 2nd July 2006; it was for both players their first title of any description on the ITTF Pro Tour.

A change to the schedule, the Men’s Doubles’ final started proceedings on the last day; the top seeds in the event, Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos were wide awake, bright eyed and won the contest in straight games; victory was secured 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 14-12

It was the second time that they had reached the final of a Men’s Doubles event on the ITTF Pro Tour; the previous occasion being at the Eurosib Russian Open in December 2005 when they lost in the final to Serbia’s Aleksandar Karakasevic and Austria’s Werner Schlager.

So Near Previously
They have been losing semi-finalists on two occasions both occasions being in 2005, the first at the Volkswagen Open Korea in Suncheon, the second at Liebherr German Open in Leipzig.

Meanwhile, defeat in the quarter-finals has been their lot on five occasions. In 2002 they fell at that stage in Brazil, in 2005 they exited proceedings in the quarters at the Liebherr U.S. Open, the Volkswagen Open China and the Volkswagen Open Japan, whilst in 2006, at the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open, the quarter-finals again proved their nemesis.

First Final
It was for the new partnership of Ferenc Pázsy and Bojan Tokic their first ever Men’s Doubles final on the ITTF Pro Tour, their only previous success having been one week earlier, at the Brazil Open they reached the quarter-finals.

Well Known
“We know both players really well, so we knew exactly what to expect”, said Robert Gardos. “Also in the Men’s Singles Chen Weixing had beaten Bojan Tokic and I like playing against Ferenc Pázsy, so it was a good situation for us.”

However, Gardos did sound a note of caution. “We played at 10.00am, so early in the morning you never know”, he explained. “If one player has a really good feeling for the ball it can make all the difference.” In Santiago, two players certainly had a good feeling for the ball and they were in the same team, their names: Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos.

Variety
Good feeling and also the partnership of Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos is somewhat different. Robert Gardos is a topspin attacking player, whilst Chen Weixing defends with backspin on the backhand and attacks venomously from the forehand.

“The combination gives us a good variety”, said Robert Gardos. “Some players may not like to play against backspin so Chen Weixing can chop the ball, whilst others may be good against defence and he can attack, his forehand is very strong.”

Experienced
Furthermore, both are very good players in their own right, they are experienced, they exploit the weaknesses of their opponents and in Santiago they did just that; they became Men’s Doubles champions Liebherr Chile Open 2006.