by Ian Marshall, Editor
Right handed, maintaining the pen-hold grip tradition, Zheng Peifeng, currently a player with no world ranking, not because of his undoubted ability but because he has been seen so rarely present on the international scene, since competing in the World Junior Championships in 2011 in Manama, accounted for Austria’s Stefan Fegerl.
He emerged successful in four straight games (11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8); presently, Stefan Fegerl is listed at no.52 in the global order.
Success contrary to status but a Chinese player who has been absent from international arenas and then causes havoc is not a new phenomenon; one shudders to call such wins, upsets.
However, I suggest that the win recorded by Viacheslav Burov in opposition to Thiago Monteiro was an upset of note. Listed at no.320 on the current Men’s World Ranking, as opposed to Thiago Monteiro at no.108, the Russian emerged successful in seven games (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7).
”I feel that I am playing well right now. My physical condition is good, so there has been no problem for me to play many seven game matches. I want to win every match. It doesn’t matter who I play against. I want to earn money for my family; it’s the biggest motivation for me. I hope I will play even better in the main draw.” Viacheslav Burov
Defeat for Thiago Monteiro in a round when fortunes did not favour Brazil; in addition, Gustavo Tsuboi lost to Japan’s Taku Takakiwa (12-10, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 6-11, 3-11, 11-6). Conversely for Russia, Kirill Skachkov maintained his good form; he reserved his main draw place courtesy of success against Italy’s Mihai Bobocica (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9).
Impressive from Viacheslav Burov, it was the same from Marek Badowski, list at no.264 in the global order, he followed suit. Successful one day earlier in the second round against Slovenia’s Bojan Tokic (11-8, 10-12, 17-15, 9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6), he beat Sweden’s Pär Gerell, ranked no.92 (11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7).
“I feel great. I have now beaten two very good and experienced European players; so for me this is a good success. I’m concentrating only on fighting and winning the next point. In the opening two games his backhand did not work so well but in the following two games it did; so after the fourth game I had to change my strategy a bit and play more to his forehand. This was very important for me. I’m happy that I managed to win.” Marek Badowski.
Success for Marek Badowski but for Japan’s Takuya Jin, who the previous day had caused a major upset by beating colleague, Yuya Oshima, it was defeat. He was beaten by Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar (11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7).
Likewise, there were defeats for the two remaining Czech Republic players; Lubomir Jancarik lost to Yuki Hirano, the younger brother of the now retired Sayaka Hirano (11-3, 18-16, 11-8, 11-6). Similarly David Reitspies suffered at the hands of Germany’s Ricardo Walther (11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7).
The main event commences on Thursday 23rd August.
