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Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge, Spanish Open

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Challenge Series

Spain Highlights Final Day: titles for outsider and favourite

25 Mar 2019

An outsider and the favourite, Denmark’s Zhai Yujia and Japan’s Miyu Kato won the respective men’s singles and women’s singles titles at the Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Spanish Open in Guadalajara on Sunday 24th March.

Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles event status eventually prevailed with Germany’s Kilian Ort emerging successful, in the women’s doubles final it was the opposite, qualifiers Stéphanie Loueillette and Yuan Jia Nan from France emerged the champions.

Miyu Kato down to business in Guadalajara (Photo: Alvaro Diaz)

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Moreover, for France it was a watershed day

Men’s Singles

…………qualifiers departed in matches of contrasting natures. Qiu Dang, the no.12 seed, beat German compatriot, Steffen Mengel, by the narrowest of margins (11-4, 13-15, 11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 12-10). Somewhat differently, Zhai Yujia, the no.26 seed, accounted for Romania’s Rares Sipos with the utmost efficiency (11-1, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9).

…………Zhai Yujia beat Germany’s Qiu Dang to secure the men’s singles title. Thus he becomes only the second player ever, representing Denmark, on either the ITTF World Tour or at an ITTF Challenge Series tournament to win a men’s singles event; the only other instance was in Aarhus in 2004 when Michael Maze succeeded.

Women’s Singles

…………semi-final mixed fortunes for qualifiers, Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Wen lost to Miyu Kato, the top seed (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4); conversely, Romania’s Adina Diaconu overcame Italy’s Li Xiang, the no.27 seed (5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6).

…………in the title decider, Miyu Kato beat Adina Diaconu (5-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6) to win her second such ITTF Challenge Series title. Last year she won in Slovenia overcoming colleague, Sakura Mori in the final

Men’s Doubles

…………Kilian Ort and Qiu Dang, the no.7 seeds, beat Chinese Taipei qualifiers Lee Chia-Sheng and Yang Heng-Wei to win the men’s doubles title (10-12, 9-11, 11-5, 17-15, 11-7). It is the second career ITTF Challenge Series men’s doubles title secured by Kilian Ort; last year partnering colleague Tobias Hippler he won in Bangkok

Women’s Doubles

………… Stéphanie Loueillette and Yuan Jia Nan emerged the surprise winners; required to compete in the qualification tournament, they beat Poland’s Natalia Bajor and Natalia Partyka, the no.6 seeds (11-8, 11-5, 11-7) in the final. Success means they are only the second ever French pairing to win a women’s doubles title on either the ITTF World Tour or at an ITTF Challenge Series tournament and the only pair this century. The one previous success was in 1999 on the ITTF World Tour, Anne Boileau and Anne-Sophie Gourin won in Brazil

Challenge Series 2019 Seamaster Spanish Open Miyu Kato Zhai Yujia

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Day 3 - Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Spanish Open