Simon Daish

The victory in Budapest means that Chen Xingtong and Li Jiayi become the 54th pair representing the People’s Republic of China, to win an ITTF World Tour Women’s Doubles title.

It is the 129th time in 286 tournaments when an ITTF World Tour Women’s Doubles event has been staged, that a Chinese partnership has emerged successful.

The title was won in style by Chen Xingtong and Li Jiayi who were unseeded for the event after they saw off the second seeds Matilda Ekholm and Georgina Pota across four ends.

Chen Xingtong and Li Jiayi made a positive start to the tie, claiming the opening two games with little difficulty but with the Hungarian fans backing their player Georgina Pota and her partner from Sweden Matilda Ekholm the task was not yet over for the Chinese duo as the European combination pulled a game back in their favour to narrow the scores to 2-1.

Matilda Ekholm and Georgina Pota were making their second appearance in an ITTF World Tour Women’s Doubles final. Last year, they won in Olomouc at the 2016 Czech Open beating Russia’s Maria Dolgikh and Polina Mikhailova in the title deciding contest.

However, the Hungarian and Swedish pairing weren’t able to replicate that result in Budapest as Chen Xingtong and Li Jiayi took the fourth end by a three point margin to seal the title (11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8).

“We had a good preparation with our coach about the strategy and the game plan. We watched the way they played the rounds before especially Matilda. We played really well in the final and are delighted about the result”, was the reaction of the victorious Chinese partnership.