11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

The finalists in the Men’s Doubles event at the Liebherr German Open had both been in top form at the semi-final stage. Patrick Chila and Werner Schlager had beaten the number one seeds, Timo Boll and Christian Süss whilst Gao Ning and Yang Zi had overcome second seeds Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos.

In the final success went to Patrick Chila and Werner Schlager who won a thriller: 9-11, 14-12, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

One week earlier in St Petersburg, the Singapore duo of Li Jia Wei and Wang Yue Gu had contested the Women’s Singles final at the Eurosib Russian Open. In Bayreuth on Sunday 12th November 2006 it was exactly the same situation at the Liebherr German Open. The top two seeds had reached the final.

In St Petersburg the verdict went to Li Jia Wei, at the Liebherr German Open the verdict went in the other direction.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

Top seed in the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr German Open, Timo Boll, started as the favourite in the final on Sunday 12th November 2006; not just because he was number one seed and he was playing in his native Germany but because he had won the only two previous meetings against Hou Yingchao in World Ranking events.

He confirmed the billing but it was mightily close, he won an absolute classic encounter prevailing 9-11, 15-13, 10-12, 7-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

One title each to their credit on the ITTF Pro Tour was the scenario for both pairs contesting the Women’s Singles final at the Liebherr German Open in Bayreuth on Sunday 12th November 2006.

The Japanese duo of Ai Fukuhara and Ai Fujinuma had won gold at the TMS Chinese Taipei Open in June 2006, whilst more recently, Li Jia Wei and Sun Bei Bei had won at the Eurosib St Pertersburg Open seven days earlier.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

Aleksandar Karakasevic is one of the world’s better players against the defensive experts; however, there are backspin players and there is Hou Yingchao.

He is the specialist in the art of returning the ball with varying degrees of backspin and, should the chance arise, he can hit quickly with the backhand like the traditional defender of unleash a forehand topspin of which any all-out attacker would be proud.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

Climbing Mount Everest blindfold and without oxygen might have been a less demanding challenge than playing Timo Boll in the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr German Open in Bayreuth on Saturday 12th November 2006.

The crowd welcomed Gao Ning but as soon as the name `Timo’ was announced there was no need for the Master of Ceremonies to even dare mention the second name.

 11/12/2006 2006 GERMAN Open

Tony Christie’s `Amarillo’ rang out in the Oberfrankenhalle for the start of the second Women’s Singles semi-final at the Liebherr German Open on Sunday 12th November 2006. “Is this the way to Amarillo?” was repeated; for Wang Yue Gu it was the way to her second final on the ITTF Pro Tour, for Liu Jia it was the way home to Austria.

In the first meeting between the two players Wang Yue Gu won 11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7.