Men's Doubles final to be won by a Korean pairing, Europeans to settle Women's final

by Simon Daish

All Smiles No Matter the Outcome

Korea Republic are in a win-win situation in the Men’s final: with first and second places already sealed, their players will be hailed for a solid performance in the event. However, there is still a match to be played and it should be a cracker.

The top half of the draw sees Cho Eonrae and Park Jeongwoo make the final, after their victory over Patrick Franziska (German) and Jonathan Groth (Denmark).

Cho and Park had already defeated the first seeds (Kenta Matsudaira and Yuya Oshima) in the prior round and they took the early advantage in the semi-finals to move 1-0 in front.

Franziska and Groth managed to pick up the second end, but the rest of the match was plain sailing for the Koreans (11-8, 4-11, 11-2, 11-6).

Kim Minhyeok and Park Ganghyeon are also through following their 3-1 win against another Korean pairing, Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon.

Game one went in Jang and Lim’s favour, but the combination of Kim and Park would reign supreme, taking three consecutive ends (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8) to move forward into the final.

Russian Duo Going for Another Title

DOLGIKH Maria, MIKHAILOVA Polina ITTF_WT_CzechOpen_20160903_102248_D72_1023 — Can Maria Dolgikh and Polina Mikhailova win consecutive Women’s Doubles titles? (Photo: Jan Brychta)

Polina Mikhailova and Maria Dolgikh will be going for their second World Tour Women’s Doubles titles (having won at the 2016 Slovenia Open), after the Russians came from behind to win on day four.

The Russian team took on strong opponents in the semi-finals as Manika Batra and Mouma Das of India seemed to have formed a good understanding of their game at the Czech Open. Batra and Das made a positive start to the match, but were hugely unfortunate to lose games two and three 14-12. Any rhythm Batra and Das had going for them vanished in an instant and Mikhailova and Dolgikh took full advantage of the situation, seeing the tie out with a comfortable finish (8-11, 14-12, 14-12, 11-4).

Matilda Ekholm (Sweden) and Georgina Pota (Hungary) had gone head-to-head in the Women’s Singles tournament earlier in the day, with the former of the two players getting the better of the Hungarian. But they soon put that result behind them to focus on the Women’s Doubles.

Awaiting Ekholm and Pota in the last four was the sole remaining Czech pairing of Karin Adamcova and Aneta Kucerova, in an encounter that very much to the disappointment of the fans didn’t last too long. Despite the wonderful home support for Adamcova and Kucerova, the Czech duo never really moved out of first gear as Ekholm and Pota claimed a 3-0 clean sweep (11-8, 11-7, 11-5).