12/01/2010        Volkswagen 2010 Cup - Braunschweig

China’s Ma Lin, in breathtaking form, beat Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus in four straight games at the semi-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Volkswagen Cup in the Germany city of Braunshweig on Wednesday 1st December 2010.

The Chinese star, four times winner of the Men’s World Cup, was at his best; he gave a scintillating display that stunned to crowd and drew their admiration.

An outstanding display saw him record victory by the margin of 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3.

Typical
In typical style Ma Lin was most astute in the area of service and receive; especially in the former where by varying the length of the service in addition to the degrees of spin, he forced weak returns from the Belarus star.

A devastating first attack ended matters.

Over the Table
Over the table Ma Lin was in a class of his very own; the fact that he was so quick to attack over the table gave Vladimir Samsonov no time whatsoever to execute his elegant and stylish strokes.

Rallies were few and far between, simply Ma Lin did not allow them to happen and when they did then the speed of his strokes brought success.

Time Out
Trailing by three games to nil and down 1-3 in the fourth game, Vladimir Samsonov called “Time Out”; it might have been better to have cried “Knocked Out”; Ma Lin was totally focused, there was a task to be completed.

It was duly completed in the most professional manner possible.

Ten Year Drought
The contest in Braunschweig was the 14th time the pair had met in a world ranking event, it was the 10th victory for Ma Lin but more poignantly, it was the ninth in a row and it continued what is rapidly becoming a ten year drought for the man from Belarus.

The last time Vladimir Samsonov beat Ma Lin in a world ranking event was in June 2007 at the quarter-final stage of the Men’s Singles event at the Brazil Open.