Suthasini surprises with 4-0 blanking of Yang while 13-year-old Kihara becomes the youngest player in T2APAC
Miyuu Kihara (JPN)
JOHOR BAHRU - Team Fixture 20 at the T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League (T2APAC) ended with the captain of the losing team sporting a wider smile than his winning counterpart.
That was after Team Maze found themselves 0-8 behind with four matches to come at the purpose-built T2Cavern at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Johor Bahru, and staring at a huge defeat.
Thai Suthasini and Korean veteran Joo Saehyuk gave Team Persson a flying start before 13-year-old Miyuu Kihara, who last year became the youngest ever Cadet World Champion, keyed the Team Maze comeback.
When the dust settled, Team Persson’s margin of victory was a mere one set, proof that T2APAC’s novel format continues to serve up surprises aplenty.
Match 1: Yang Haeun (KOR) vs Suthasini Sawettabut (THA)
Fresh from her medal-winning feat at the Southeast Asian Games, which included gold in the mixed doubles, Suthasini demonstrated why she, of all players, may be the one benefitting most from playing in T2APAC. Hustling and harrying her South Korean opponent, Suthasini took the opening two games 11-6, 11-9. Yang fought her way back in the third but failed to hold her nerve as she served long to gift the set 11-9 to Suthasini. With time coming into play in the fourth game, play was tight as the players traded points, and it was the Thai who found the winner to break a 9-9 tie for a well-deserved though quite unexpected 4-0 victory.
Said Suthasini: “I played slowly but my forehand was certainly working well, and I concentrated on playing one point at a time. Yang was a tough opponent and I am pleased to get this win.”
Match 2: Aleksandr Shibaev (RUS) vs Joo Saehyuk (KOR)
Having battled illness for most of the first half of the T2APAC season, it was good to see Joo back in full flow as he displayed his full array of chopping skills and made life difficult for Shibaev. His game on song, the Korean was able to pounce on every Shibaev mistake, winning the first three sets 11-5, 11-8, 11-7. Russian Shibaev found his range in the fourth set but did not manage his end game well, as Joo snuck through to win 11-10. It was revealed after the match that Shibaev had been ill the night before and needed medical attention.
Commented Joo on his victory: “I stuck to mostly chopping and attacked only when necessary. It was only in the fourth game that I started to get a bit tired, and Shibaev was able to close in.”
Match 3: Miyuu Kihara (JPN) vs Bernadette Szocs (ROM)
Kihara makes a winning T2APAC debut as the 13-year-old tamed an ever-combative Szocs 4-2 in an entertaining encounter. Kihara took the first set 11-9, with points decided on short rallies. It remained nip and tuck in the second, which Szocs edged 11-10. Kihara found her range in the third, which she sealed 11-5 in only three minutes. But Szocs, who helped her national team win the European title at the weekend, proved hard to put away, as she fought back from 7-10 down to take the fourth game 11-10. Kihara hit back again, winning seven straight points at 4-5 to win 11-5, with Szocz seemingly giving up the chase with the chance of winning the Kill Zone beckoning. And the Romanian nearly pulled it off, as she fought back from 1-4 down in the Kill Zone, only to see Kihara take the deciding point.
Match 4: Chen Chien-An (TPE) vs Mattias Karlsson (SWE)
A game of two halves which saw Karlsson enjoying the early going by taking the first two games 11-9, 11-6. Chen was 6-0 down in the third set when it finally clicked, though it was still hard work for him to fight back to 8-8, then 10-10 before edging the game 11-10. On the ascendancy, Chen took the fourth game 11-8 and fought off Karlsson’s comeback in the truncat ed fifth game to win 6-5 when Karlsson sent his return on the deciding point into the net and out.
Commented Chen: “I felt I didn’t change my rhythm quickly enough in the first two sets, and failed to get into the groove. I calmed myself down after that and found my rhythm and started playing better. In that final set I knew the serve was important and I capitalised on my opponent’s weakness.”
Match 5: Feng Tianwei (SGP) vs Shi Yunyao (CHN)
Experience shone through in this match as Feng simply had too much in her armoury for her 16-year-old opponent who was making her T2APAC debut. Feng was always in front when she took the first set 11-8, Even though Shi played better in the second game, it was Feng who won four consecutive points from 7-9 behind to take the second game 11-9. Shi, who last December was crowned Junior World Champion, finally found her game to take the third set 11-8. Feng then found an extra gear befitting a player of her stature to take the time-shortened fourth game 8-4 for the match victory.
Said Feng on dropping the third set: “I failed to adjust quickly enough when Shi changed her tactics. Overall, though, it was a good win.”
Match 6: Timo Boll (GER) vs Jun Mizutani (JPN)
A high-quality match to end Team Fixture 20 with no quarters given by both Boll and Mizutani. In the end, there were only four points between them as Boll took the first and third games 11-9, and was edged in the second set 10-11. Both dug deep to find an edge over their opponents with Boll admitting to enjoying a bit more luck on the table. Under time pressure and 2-5 behind in the final game, Boll threw caution to the wind and went for broke, winning four straight points to seal victory.
Said Boll: “In the final set I was behind and was hurrying things up as I have nothing to lose, and managed to get a couple of net-rollers and was lucky to be able to bring it home.”
*Photo courtesy of T2APAC
*Photo courtesy of T2APAC
Team Captains’ quotes:
“We let them in, we cannot be happy to have won by just a single set today. But still I’m really happy for Suthasini, how she performed against Yang and I hope it gives her a bit of a boost for the rest of the week.” – Team Persson captain Jorgen Persson
“It was an amazing result for us, we could have taken a huge loss today but a defeat by a single game means we are still leading and everything is ok.” – Team Maze captain Michael Maze on the 13-14 result
Quote of the day:
“Minyuu Kihara came into her match with our team 0-8 down and she showed what a class player she is with her win, even if she is only 13 years old.” – Michael Maze on the new Japanese teenager in his team
T2APAC
Round 4
Match Day 1
Team Fixture 20: Team Maze vs Team Persson
Summary:
| Team Maze | Team Persson | |||
| Match 1 | Yang Haeun (KOR) | 0 |
Suthasini Sawettabut (THA)
| 4 |
| Match 2 | Aleksandr Shibaev (RUS) | 0 |
Joo Saehyuk (KOR)
| 4 |
| Match 3 | Minyuu Kihara | 4 |
Bernadette Szocs (ROM)
| 2* |
| Match 4 | Chen Chien-An (TPE) | 3 |
Mattias Karlsson (SWE)
| 2 |
| Match 5 | Feng Tianwei (SGP) | 3 |
Shi Xunyao (CHN)
| 1 |
| Match 6 | Timo Boll (GER) | 3 |
Jun Mizutani (JPN)
| 1 |
| Overall | Team Maze | 13 |
Team Persson
| 14 |
* denotes playing of Kill Zone game
