by Simon Daish

With the action resuming from the round of 32 stage, it didn’t take long before the first major elimination of the day arrived as top seed Maki Shiomi suffered an early exit to Chinese Taipei’s Yu Hsiu-Ting (9-11, 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9).

Yuka Minagawa opened her day with a positive result against the host nation’s Agata Szczuka (10-12, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5), before the Japanese player picked up victories over Chinese Taipei opponents in the following two rounds.

Then a stunning seventh game success followed for Yuka Minagawa against Ukraine’s Solomiya Brateyko (11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 12-10, 2-11, 5-11, 11-8) as the Japanese competitor progressed through to the final.

Awaiting the 10th seed in the Junior Girls’ Singles final was the second seeded player Adina Diaconu, and the Romanian star headed into the title deciding encounter as the slight favourite to succeed having dropped only three games across the previous four rounds.

However, in a rather astonishing battle it was Yuka Minagawa who triumphed over six games to seal the trophy win (11-7, 11-13, 13-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7).

Success for Japan in the Junior Girls’ Singles competition, but it was very much Chinese Taipei who dominated the Junior Girls’ Doubles draw.

Three out of the four semi-finals pairings represented the country, with victories for Chang Ju-Chia and Chen Ying-Chen and the partnership of Chen Ting-Ting and Su Pei-Ling ensuring an all-Chinese Taipei final would take place.

In a topsy-turvy match the pairing of Chen Ting-Ting and Su Pei-Ling piled the pressure on their opponents after the second seeds recovered from a game down to establish a two games to one lead.

Yet, the title would end up in the hands of the lower seeded duo as the no.5 seeds Chang Ju-Chia and Chen Ying-Chen claimed back-to-back games to bring the tie and the category to a close (11-7, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7).

Follow the action live on the Official ITTF Channel.

(Photos: Bogdan Pasek)