by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

At the semi-final stage she proved crucial to her team’s aspirations as a three matches to two full distance win was recorded.

Narrow margin

She recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Luisa Saeger in the opening match of the engagement by the very narrowest of margins (8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-9), before in the fifth and determining contest defeating Janina Kammerer (11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4).

The one further win for the champions elect was recorded by Wen Ruei-Ling against the luckless Luisa Saeger who once again suffered by the minimal two point margin in the fifth game (9-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9). The wins for Germany were recorded in the second match and third matches of the contest.

Janina Kammerer won a thrilling five games duel against Wen Rue-Ling (11-9, 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 12-10), before Caroline Hajok accounted for Karla Franovic (12-10, 11-5, 11-8).

Final

A place in the final booked; once again Su Pei-Ling was pivotal to victory.

“Throughout, the whole tournament I felt fantastic I had wonderful players beside me, so I could play in a very relaxed way; Su Pei-Ling and Wen Ruei-Ling are outstanding players.” Karla Franovic

She repeated the success of the Junior Girls’ Singles final by beating Japan’s Kana Takeuchi (11-5, 11-8, 11-6) to give her team the early lead, before the latter’s colleague, Yuko Kato levelled matters by overcoming Wen Ruei-Ling (11-6, 11-5, 11-5).

Matters level, Karla Franovic beat Raquel Andrade (11-9, 11-7, 11-9), before Wen Ruei-Ling accounted for Kana Takeuchi to conclude matters (11-7, 13-11, 11-7).

Equally testing

Testing times for the champions; for the runners up, the semi-final had been equally testing; a three-two win had been the result against the Serbian trio formed by Sabina Surjan, Tijana Jokic and Dragana Vignjevic.

Mainstay of the win was Kana Takeuchi; she beat Tijana Jokic in the second match of the fixture (11-4, 11-4, 11-9) and Sabina Surjan in the decisive fifth match (8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6).

Further win

The one further win for the victors was recorded in the opening match of the fixture when Yuko Kato defeated Sabina Surjan (11-9, 11-8, 11-4); the wins for Serbia were recorded in the third and fourth matches of the engagement as a recovery was mounted.

Dragana Vignjevic overcame Raquel Andrade (11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5), before Tijana Jokic accounted for Yuko Kato (4-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7) to level matters.

Alas for Serbia there to be no memorable conclusion; Kana Takeuchi ended aspirations.