by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

At the final hurdle Elizabet Abraamian beat colleague Ekaterina Ziranova (11-7, 10-12, 6-11, 11-3, 11-7).

The appearance of the two players in the title deciding contest was no surprise, they were the respective top two seeds. However, the fact that their Russian colleague, Arina Slautina advanced to the last four was somewhat unexpected; the no.7 seed, the success at the quarter-final stage in opposition to Romania’s Elena Zaharia, the no.3 seed, was the performance to catch the eye. Impressively the 14 year old Russian emerged successful on three straight games (11-3, 11-2, 11-6).

“I had to concentrate really hard because in the final match I played against my team mate; I know how she plays. We always play tight matches against each other. I won the first game but then Ekaterina changed tactics. It was hard for me to figure out how to receive her serves. The key to winning the match was to play with more variation when serving and when receiving service. It was no great problem playing against an opponent who was left handed; often I practise with left handers.” Elizabet Abraamian

Otherwise, it was very much outcomes as expected.

Ekaterina Zironova, after having beaten Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Jia, the no.8 seed, at the quarter-final stage (11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7) ended the progress of Arina Slautina one round later (11-5, 11-7, 17-19, 11-6).

Imposing from Ekaterina Zironova, in the opposite half of the draw it had been the same from Elizabet Abraamian. In the round of the last eight she beat India’s Prithika Pavade, the no.5 seed (11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3), prior to overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-Chien, the no.4 seed, in a most exacting contest (12-10, 12-10, 3-11, 10-12, 11-8).

Disappointment for Chien Tung-Chien but there was success; she partnered Huang Yu-Jie to gold in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles competition; at the final hurdle the duo overcame the French pairing of Chloe Chomis and Prithika Pavade (11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8).