03/10/2012        2012 Italian Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Premium Junior Circuit

The top four seeds in the Junior Boys’ Singles event at the Italian Junior and Cadet Open in Lignano, concluded the opening stage of proceedings in first place, in their respective groups on Saturday 10th March 2012.

Top seed, Chinese Taipei’s Hung Tzu-Hsiang enjoyed a trouble free day, as did Hungary’s Tamas Lakatos, the third seed and Egypt’s Omar Bedair, the fourth seed; none was extended the full five games distance.

However, for the second seed, Brazil’s 15 year old Hugo Calderano, it was a somewhat different story.

He had to fight for his place in the main draw; to his credit, he succeeded.

Stretched Full Distance
In his opening contest he was stretched to the very limit by Poland’s Michal Bankosz; the young man from Rio de Janeiro eventually succeeding by the very narrowest of margins in the decisive fifth game (11-3, 9-11, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10).

A testing opening encounter, the second duel was only marginally more comfortable; he overcame the Czech Republic’s Jakub Seibert in four games, success in close first games proving crucial (14-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7).

Another Time, Another Place
Defeat for Jakub Seibert but there was consolation. He accounted for Michal Bankosz in five games in the concluding match in the group (11-6, 8-11, 11-13, 11-3, 11-3).

Second place in the group meant a passport to the main draw for Jakub Seibert. Alas for Michal Bakosz there was no such privilege. The first and second placed players in each group progressed to the main draw, for the Czech teenager, two defeats, on another day it could have been two wins; that’s the pain of sport.

Not a Comfortable Journey
Testing times for the second seed and also it was not a comfortable journey to the main draw for Belgium’s fifth seeded Emilien Vanrossomme.

He opened his account with an impressive straight games win over Spain’s Xavier Peral (11-7, 11-5, 12-10) but then needed the full five games to beat Slovakia’s Marian Majak (7-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7) and Croatia’s Juraj Durinovic (11-4, 7-11, 15-13, 11-13, 11-9).

First Place
First place in the group was the eventual outcome for Emilien Vanrossomme as it was for Hungary’s eighth seeded, Adam Szudi.

He was never extended beyond four games on his march to the second stage.
Second Places
However, for the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bajger and Andrea Landrieu of France, the respective sixth and seventh seeds, there were problems.

Both booked main draw places but both finished in second place in their respective groups, both losing the eventual unbeaten group winner.

Ondrej Bajger was beaten by Belgium’s Florent Lambiet (13-11, 11-9, 11-6); whilst Andrea Landrieu suffered against Chinese Taipei’s Huang Lien-Chung (13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9), very much the player to attract the attention.

Surprise Package
No current world ranking, Huang Lien-Chung, in addition to his victory over Andrea Landrieu beat Slovenia’s Ludvik Persolja (11-9, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3) and Slovakia’s Martin Jezo (11-13, 7-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-7).

Same Outcome
Second place in the group for the sixth and seventh seeds; further down the list, it was the same outcome for more notable names.

Croatia’s Luka Fucec, the no.10 seed, was beaten by Italy’s Alessandro Baciocchi (11-6, 11-13, 12-10, 11-9) but otherwise remained unbeaten; similarly the Italian experienced one defeat. He was beaten in the very last match in the group by the Czech Republic’s Tomas Malek (11-6, 13-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9).

The end result was that both Luka Fucec and Alessandro Baciocchi had two wins each; the other two members of the group, Tomas Malek and Japan’s Yoshiki Mizutani had one win each. In such cases the result between the two players determines the higher placing; thus Alessandro Baciocchi emerged as the group winner.

Problems
Problems for Luka Fucec and also there were difficulties for Mehdi Bouloussa of France, the no.9 seed; like the Czech Republic’s David Reitspies and the German duo of Kilian Ort and Qiu Dang, the players in the respective 11th to 13th seeded positions, second place in the group was the end result.

All three suffered one defeat each, losing to the eventual unbeaten group winner.

One Defeat Each
Mehdi Bouloussa was beaten by Croatia’s Filip Zeljko (13-11, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10), David Reitspies suffered against Switzerland’s Linus Trummler (12-10, 11-8, 11-9), Kilian Ort found Belgium’s Robin Saudemont in form (7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-4) and Qiu Dang experienced heartaches against the Czech Republic’s Michal Benes (11-9, 11-9, 11-4).

Problems and in a similar manner there were problems for Hungary’s Marton Szita, the no.16 seed; likewise he finished in second place in his group, losing to the eventual unbeaten winner, Germany’s Marc Rode (9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 11-6).

Unbeaten
Defeats for seven of the highly seeded players but for the two further players to complete the top 16 names it was three visits to the table, three wins and top place in the group.

Brazil’s Eric Jouti, the no.14 seed and Germany’s Benedikt Duda, the no.15 seed, each enjoyed a successful day.