9/30/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

At the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Chengdu, China on Sunday 30th September 2007, the next ten years in the world of table tennis was on display.

It was not a preview of the next decade in terms of technical skills when hitting a table tennis ball or the next decade in the way the sport is organised or administered. It was the next decade in how players will look when entering the table tennis arena.

The event in question was the Volkswagen Fashion Contest when some thirty innovative designs were on display.

 9/30/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

China’s Wang Nan, the number two seed, won the Women’s Singles crown at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Chengdu on Sunday 30th September 2007 beating the number one seed, her compatriot, Zhang Yining in the final

Wang Nan in superb form, back to her best, won 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8.

It was the fourth time in her career that she had won the title her previous wins being in 1997 in Shanghai, the following year in Taipei and in 2003 in Hong Kong.

 9/30/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

Playing for third place was nothing new for Hong Kong’s Tie Yana at a Women’s World Cup.

In Chengdu on Sunday 30th September 2007 she was in that position for the fourth consecutive year.

On two of the previous three occasions she had finished in fourth place, in the capital city of the Sichuan Province it was fourth place yet again, she suffered at the hands of Guo Yue in straight games.

Guo Yue won contest 12-10, 10-12, 13-11, 12-10, 11-8.

 9/30/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

The odds heavily favoured the second seed, China’s Wang Nan in her semi-final duel with Hong Kong’s Tie Yana at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup on Sunday 30th September 2007.

Furthermore, they were short odds and Wang Nan justified the forecast.

She won in five games succeeding 13-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5.

Throughout the contest she played consistently remaining close to the table to minimise the attacking play of her adversary.

 9/30/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

The meeting between Zhang Yining and Guo Yue in the first semi-final of the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Chengdu on Sunday 30th October 2007 was the eleventh time they had met in a world ranking event since their first encounter in November 2002 in the final of the Women’s Singles event at the Danish Open.

On that occasion Zhang Yining prevailed in four straight games and on the one time that they had met in the Women’s World, in Guangzhou in 2005, it was Zhang Yining who won their quarter-final duel.

In Chengdu Zhang Yining succeeded again.

 9/29/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

The last of the four quarter-final matches at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Chengdu on Saturday 29th September 2007 was a repeat of the Women’s Singles quarter-final contest at the China Mobile Asian Championships in Yangzhou one week earlier.

It was China’s Wang Nan versus Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun.

In Yangzhou victory had gone the way of Wang Nan in a hard fought seven games encounter; in Chengdu it went again to three times World champion again; only this time it was in five games.

 9/29/2007 2007 Volkswagen Women's World Cup

Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu versus Hong Kong’s Tie Yana was the order of proceedings for the third quarter-final at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Chengdu on Saturday 29th September 2007.

Fourth seed, Tie Yana had emerged successful in Group `D’ beating Austria’s Liu Jia, Congo Brazzaville’s Feng Yan and Japan’s Ai Fukuhara whilst Wang Yue Gu had qualified for the quarter-finals by virtue of a second placed finish in Group `A’. She lost to China’s Zhang Yining but beat both Daniela Dodean and Li Jiao.

Both players had shown excellent form in the first stage of proceedings but in their quarter-final duel the player in the better form was Tie Yana.