by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Eventually the active top spin play of Sun Yingsha prevailed in a contest where Qian Tianyi underlined the fact that she can absorb the attacking skills of an adversary and turn them to her advantage. Notably from the backhand she was able to create angles and force Sun Yingsha out of position.

A crucial stage came in the second game when Qian Tianyi recovered from 5-1 down to level at 5-all but was not able to maintain the momentum. One wonders if she had been able to build and secure the game, would a two games to nil lead have been sufficient to march to victory?

One rather strange aspect of the contest was “Time Out” calls. Losing 3-0 in the fourth game Sun Yingsha called “Time Out” and won just two more points. In the seventh game Qian Tianyi called “Time Out”

“Actually, even though I’m in the first national team, and she’s in the second team, I have more defeats than wins against her, so I knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy match today. Today I won because I was able to remain calm even when I was losing, I never had a single thought of giving up and just fought on for a chance to recover in the match.” Sun Yingsha

Defeat for Qian Tianyi against a player who responded at the vital stages, it was the same for Wang Manyu against Miyu Kato; adjusting to the wide variety of services extolled by opponent, gradually Qian Tianyi adapted to secure victory.

Notably Miyu Kato had a very special coach sitting courtside, her father Koki Kato.