Tournaments

25 May 2018

Crucial to Sweden’s bronze medal success in the recent Liebherr 2018 World Team Championships in Halmstad; Jon Persson caused the biggest upset in the second round of the Men’s Singles event at the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Hang Seng Hong Kong Open on the evening of Friday 24th May.

Required to compete in the two day qualification tournament, he ended the hopes of the host association; he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Wong Chun Ting, the top seed (6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10).

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Notably in Halmstad, in the group stage of proceedings, Jon Persson lost just one match; in the opening contest against Hong Kong he was beaten by Wong Chun Ting (11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5).

“I played him one time in ETTU Cup semi-finals with my club. I actually beat him three-one but then at the World Championships I lost three-one. So it was a revenge for me today. I think today I was good in my defence. I blocked well and when he attacked I was a little bit calmer than at the World Championships. I always try to play a little bit hard, today I focused on keeping the ball on the table; that was the key. My serves were much better today than at the World Championships. He had more problems today with my serves than at the World Championships; this was also one key point for me. I know that he is a really good player, so I needed to impose my game even if I was down two-nil. I won three very close games; it made the difference.” Jon Persson

A surprise win for Jon Persson, he was not alone in the second round of the Men’s Singles event; in fact all four matches in the top half of the draw provided upsets.

Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura, the no.9 seed, beat Egypt’s Omar Assar, the no.6 seed (11-3, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7); Cho Seungmin accounted for fellow Korean qualifier, Jang Woojin (13-11, 11-9, 14-12, 9-11, 11-9). Contests between colleagues are often unpredictable but on the current Men’s World Rankings, Jang Woojin is the higher ranked; he is listed at no.54, Jang Woojin at no.40. The result could well be regarded as surprise.

Impressive from Cho Seungmin; it was equally impressive from another qualifier in the top half of the draw. Zhou Qihao, the one Chinese player still standing, accounted for Germany’s Patrick Franziska, the no.11 seed (12-10, 13-15, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10).

He now meets Jon Persson in the penultimate round, Maharu Yoshimura opposes Cho Seungmin.

“I haven’t played as a national team member of China team for a while so I was a bit nervous. Next round I will be playing against Jon Persson. I haven’t played against him before. Tonight I will be having a video review and study his style of playing.” Zhou Qihao

The quarter-final and semi-final matches will be played on Saturday 26th May.

World Tour 2018 Seamaster Hong Kong Open Wong Chun Ting Jon Persson
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Day 4 - Seamaster 2018 ITTF Hang Seng Hong Kong Open

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