US Open: Main Singles Draws Set

US Open Review

Thursday, July 4, 2002

ITTF Press Releases

Main Draws set for Men's and Women's Singles

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - The field is now set for today's opening round of Men's and Women's Singles at the US Open ITTF Pro Tour. Both 2001 singles winners, LIU Gouzheng (CHN) and NIU Jianfeng (CHN), are competing in Fort Lauderdale to defend their championship titles.

The top 4 men's seeds, former US Open Pro Tour winner WANG Liqin (CHN), MA Lin (CHN), KONG Lighui (CHN) and Werner SCHLAGER (AUT) will face an onslaught of German and American qualifiers who earned spots in yesterday's preliminary play. Thomas KEINATH, Zoltan FEJER-KONNERTH, Stefan FETH, Lars HEILSCHER and Daniel WEITZ joined fellow German star Torbin WOSIK in the round of the last 64.
North American qualifiers include XIAO Han (USA), Atanda MUSA (USA), CHENG Yinghua (USA), Pradeeban PETER-PAUL (CAN), David ZHUANG (USA), WANG Fei (USA) and Eric OWENS (USA).

On the women's side, the top 4 seeds are WANG Nan (CHN), ZHANG Yining (CHN), defending US Open Champion NIU Jianfeng (CHN) and RYU Ji Hye (KOR).

Japanese players predominated among the qualifiers with Miyuki NISHII, Midori ITO and Kumi IMAFUKU moving into the draw.

North American qualifiers in Women's Singles include Virginia SUNG (USA), Petra CADA (CAN), CHIU Wennin (CAN), Jasna REED (USA), Jackie LEE (USA) and Simone YANG (USA).

German Qualifiers Create Major Upset

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - Led by an upset from Stephan FETH and Thomas KEINATH (GER) over the Chinese duo of LIU Guoliang and GUO Jinhao, 6 European pairs advanced from qualifying play to the main draw of Men's Doubles at the US OPEN ITTF Pro Tour.

The Germans consistently engaged the hard hitting Chinese team in extended counter driving rallies, drawing blocking errors on key points throughout the hotly contested match. FETH and KEINATH trailed throughout the 4th game, in danger of being extended to deciding a fifth, but charged back to take the win, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 14-12.
Other qualifiers included Jens LUNQUIST/Magnus MOLIN (SWE), Michael MAZE/Martin Monrad (DEN), CHANG Yen-Shu/CHUANG Chi-Yuan (TPE), Danny HEISTER/Trinko KEEN (NED), LIU Gouzheng /WANG Hao (CHN), CHEN Weixing/Robert GARDOS (AUT), and Allan BENTSEN/Finn TUGWELL (DEN).

What a difference a year makes

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - Canadians provided early fireworks in Women's Singles at the US Open ITTF Pro Tour as qualifier Petra CADA (CAN) upset seeded veteran Olga NEMES (GER) in first round play. The loss represented a reversal of fortune for NEMES, a Romanian expatriate who scored a major upset over ZHANG Yining (CHN) in last year's U.S. Open Pro Tour event.

CADA trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the match before winning a runaway sixth game and a tight seventh, capturing an unexpected 11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 11-9, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8 victory.
Canadian teammate Marie-Christine ROUSSY (CAN) narrowly missed duplicating the event, leading KIM Moo Kyo (KOR) 3-1. At 5-5 in the fifth game, ROUSSY dropped two loose points on her own service and never recovered. KIM went on to win 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5.

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US Open: Main Singles Draws Set

Main Draws set for Men's and Women's Singles

German Qualifiers Create Major Upset

What a difference a year makes

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