by Ian Marshall, Editor
Most impressively Zang Xiaotong accounted for Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ting-Ting, the no.3 seed and the winner earlier in the year in Jordan (11-5, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7), having in the later rounds overcome Croatia’s Hana Arapovic (5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5) and Poland’s Katarzyna Wegrzyn, the no.14 seed, to reserve her place in the semi-finals where the good form continued.
She overcame colleague Yang Yiyun (12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-3), a player very much in form.
“In the final I played quite confidently and I am very happy to win. It was a really strong competition. It is always hard to play against compatriots. My hardest match was against my teammate in the semi- finals. All in all I think I did great in the competition.” Wu Yangchen
Notably in the third round, Yang Yiyun had ended the hopes of Romania’s Andreea Dragoman, the top seed (12-10, 11-6, 11-2, 11-3); the same round as in which Katarzyna Wegrzyn had ended the hopes of Italy’s Jamila Laurenti, the no.4 seed (9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, 11-9).
A third round exit for the top seed, for Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn, the top seed, the departure was even sooner; she was beaten in the opening round by Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Pu-Syuan (10-12, 12-10, 5-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6). Success for Cheng Pu-Syuan but the euphoria was short lived; she experienced a third round defeat at the hands of China’s Chen Yi (10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6), the player Chen Ting-Ting beat to reserve her place in the final (11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 12-14, 10-12, 11-7).
Notably, Chen Yi was the third successive Chinese player Chen Ting-Ting had beaten. In the third round she ousted Zhang Xiaotong (11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 15-13, 8-11, 12-10), at the quarter-final stage Huang Yingqi (7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8).
China to the fore, it was very much the same in the Junior Girls’ Doubles event, at the final hurdle, Wu Yangchen and ZangXiaotong beat Li Yuqi and Yang Yiyun (12-10, 12-14, 11-6, 14-12).
Play in the Junior Girls’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Doubles events concluded; attention now turns to the Junior Girls’ Team and Cadet Girls’ Team competitions.
