Table Tennis, Austrian Open 2010 - ITTF Pro Tour
German Timo Boll is a three-time winner of the Austrian Open. It seems that winning this tournament is like a piece of cake for him. The German is welcomed everywhere he plays as he is always willing to attend the interviews, meet people of different regions
and behave in the most professional manner.
He is in fact a credit to the sport. As always, he is most welcome at the Austrian Open as he began his Men’s Singles campaign on 22nd October 2010.
On the other hand, Austria is known to offer its guests a friendly environment and a warm welcome, a reality that was most obvious at the World Team Cup in 2009 and World Junior Championships in 2005.
Both of these events were equally good as the current ITTF Pro Tour tournament conducted in the city of Linz in Austria. The President of Austrian Table Tennis Association and the Tournament Director Hans Friedinger is most delighted to welcome Timo Boll
to the Austrian Open.
He gave a present to Timo Boll, the famous Linzer Torte. Actually a torte is a cake but Linzer Torte is a special one. It is the oldest known torte in the World named after the city of Linz.
Timo Boll cheerfully accepted the gift. His gestures made it very clear that he was feeling very much at home in Linz. He said, "Pro Tour, World Cup, Champions League and Premier League, a murderous November. However, in Austria, I've already won three times,
I feel comfortable here”.
He won the Men’s Singles title in the Austrian Open at Wels in years 2002 and 2004 while recently he succeeded in Salzburg in 2008. Undoubtedly he is a defending champion.
Moreover, Hans Friedinger showed great hospitality to his guest. He organised a special canine accreditation for Timo Boll’s dog. "We fulfill all the wishes of Timo”, said Hans Friedinger in a mischievous tone. “However, we hope that if it comes to the dream
final when he plays Werner Schlager, he will fulfill a wish for us”.
Turning to the Women’s Singles event, Russian Anna Tikhomirova, Zhu Fang from Spain, Nikoleta Stefanova from Italy and Germany’s Zhenqi Barthel were responsible for causing an upset in the lower half of the draw in the 1st round at the Austrian Open
in Wels on 22nd October 2010.
All of them successfully played the two days qualification matches and secured their places in the main draw. It meant that their first challenge would be to face the seeded opposition and the opposition fell.
25 year-old Anna Tikhomirova from Russia had been a player to cause the host nation anguish and pain. She defeated Austrian leading female player Liu Jia seeded 15. Jia was a player very dear to the host nation due to her record of success both in Europe and
ITTF Pro Tour.
In 2005 she won the Women’s Singles title at the European Championships at the Danish city of Aarhus and in 2004, she succeeded in Brazil Open and she was again successful four years later at the German Open.
On the contrary, the third round in a Women’s Singles was the best ever for Anna Tikhomirova on the ITTF Pro Tour. It seemed that she has a liking for playing in Austria. It was a marvellous victory and stunning in a way that it stunned the home crowd.
Nikoleta Stefanova, Zhu Fang and Zhenqi Barthel played exceptionally good and their performances were praiseworthy too as they all defeated the players, who had won the Women’s Singles titles on ITTF Tour.
Li Jiawei of Singapore was overcome by Stefanova, Jiawei being the 13 seed and a six-time winner of Women’s singles title on ITTF Tour. Zhgu Fang defeated Poland’s Li Qian, the no.17 seed, who had won three times before. The no.10 seed Hungary’s Krisztina
Toth was beaten by Zhenqi Barthel, Toth being the winner of women’s Singles title two times in ITTF Pro Tour.
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