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| Photo: ITTF |
Final Results
Champion: Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER)
1st Runner-up: Timo Boll (GER)
2nd Runner-up: Ma Long (CHN)
Check full results on ITTF website!
Must-Watch Matches
With so much international depth at 2017 Men's World Cup, the past few days were a fancy feast of table tennis in Liege, Belgium. Here is the list of must-watch matches from the meet.
1. Timo Boll Won In His 'Living Room' After Saving 6 Match Points
When everyone believed that Lin Gaoyuan was about to made the semifinals with 6 match points in hand, leading Timo Boll 10-4 in the decisive 7th game, Timo Boll patiently made his way up and sneaked through into the semifinals. Lin Gaoyuan was quick from the start of the match and put himself at a 3-1 lead after 4 games. The next 2 games were a close competition and Timo Boll had more variations in his ball placement at the end of the game, fooling Lin Gaoyuan as well as earning him crucial points to head to the decider 7th game. In the 7th game Lin Gaoyuan was at a high tempo like he did in the first game but things began to change at 10-4. Lin Gaoyuan seemed to play safe and had played less aggressive in his return. His missed 2 returns from his forehand side and then called for a timeout. After the timeout, he stood a bit more to his forehand side after his serve but Timo Boll played cross the court to Lin Gaoyuan's backhand and Lin missed another 2 points. The score was 10-8. Lin Gaoyuan was stunned. It also reminded us the incredible comeback played by Xu Xin at 10-5 earlier this year at 2017 World Championships in Dusseldorf. Even though he attempted to improve his return in the next 2 points with his backhand flick at the forehand side, he held back and gave chances for Timo Boll to win the points. As a result Timo Boll took the decider with a 13-11 victory.
It was an incredible comeback for Timo Boll but a painful lesson or even a nightmare to Lin Gaoyuan. Timo Boll was very happy about this victory and he called Liege his 'living room' (he won over 3 top Chinese players and clinched the gold medal in Liege 12 years ago at 2005 Men's World Cup) in the post-match interview. Even though, he had to play against Ma Long afterwards but he told the host that he would celebrate this victory for 20 minutes or so before of thinking about the next match. I can't help but sigh when getting to Lin Gaoyuan. It was a great chance for Lin Gaoyuan to prove himself at the Men's World Cup. However losing the match with so many match points in hand in international competition, not once but twice, would raise the concern of the Chinese national team coaches on whether Lin Gaoyuan could handle pressure and secure points at critical moments. I feel sorry for Lin Gaoyuan because he has been through so many challenges to come to this far and have the opportunity to compete internationally. I am not an insider. I am looking at this match as an ordinary audience and I believe the national team coaches would not give up Lin Gaoyuan because of this match but Lin Gaoyuan needs to have more outstanding performances in the upcoming events to win the confidence and trust from the coaches.
Quarterfinals: Timo Boll (GER) 4-3 Lin Gaoyuan (CHN) [Full Match]
2. A 'Musical Match' With Wild Rallies
This is called a 'musical match' because there were different kinds of vocalization to celebrate the points from both players. It is a battle of stalling because players tried every tactics to gain a few more seconds before their serves. Other than that, I think this is an entertaining match especially for the 'counter-loop fanatic' (starting from the point at 10-9 in the 3rd game). I believe for those who have followed T2APAC would be no stranger to this match as they have played against each other for so many times. I have an impression that Shibaev had a hard time of dealing with Dima's backhand pendulum serve which just comes out the table on the opponent's forehand side. However to my surprise that did not bother Shibaev in this match. He could either make a short push to the middle of the table or prepared for Dima's forehand loop after the serve.
Quarterfinals: Alexander Shibaev (RUS) 3-4 Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER) [Full Match]
3. Timo Boll Winning 2 Top Chinese In A Row
I am not biased here and I truly think this is the best match of the entire tournament. In this match, you can find amazing switch-hand loop played by Timo Boll (at 10-5 in game 1), careful controls in short balls, exciting counters (3-7 in game 6), clever ball placements, text-book form forehand loop, impeccable backhand flip and many more tactics from the match. There are a few moments that are worth-rewatching and I am going to talk about 2 of them. The first one started at 4-6 in game 3. Ma Long had a few misses in his backhand leaving him trailing 4-10 down. He then made good use of his serves and earned a few points with his forehand counters. I think this is a good demonstration of adjusting the tactics to stop from losing multiple points in a row despite his effort was not enough for him to win that game. The second one is the 7th game. Timo Boll had a good start in the game leading 4-1 but Ma Long's 'double happiness point' (clinching the net and then caught the edge of the table) had given Ma Long a chance to take over the lead. However after switching side, he dared to take the initiative with his forehand and earned a few points back. Ma Long is not the ones who would give away points easily, he leveled the game to 8-8 forcing Timo Boll to call for a crucial timeout (his coach seemed to ask for a timeout in game 4 but Timo Boll saved it to the 7th game) and it worked. He did not hold back and won the game 12-10. What a dramatic decider!
It is not easy to comeback after a 1-3 down, and it is more difficult to do that against the top Chinese players. While Timo Boll did it twice at the Men's World Cup. It takes so many experiences, courage, technique and mental toughness to do that. Timo Boll always has some surprising returns/serves at the critical points (usually the last few points of the game), I wonder how many tactics he has at the back of his mind during those nerve-racking moments. While Ma Long tried his best in the competition. I feel like he had more errors than usual but it is normal that athletes have ups and downs in their career.
Semifinals: Timo Boll (GER) 4-3 Ma Long (CHN) [Full Match]
4. Potentials In Simon Gauzy
I have to admit that I did not follow many of Simon Gauzy's matches and have overlooked him prior to this meet. However he is amazing at the Men's World Cup. What strike me the most is his ability to counter powerful strokes and his quick footwork.
Semifinals: Simon Gauzy (FRA) 3-4 Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER) [Full Match]
Bronze Medal Match: Simon Gauzy (FRA) 2-4 Ma Long (CHN) [Full Match]
So these are my notes on this Men's World Cup, and thanks for sticking around through this 2017 Men's World Cup Recap. I'm trying to be more productive and write more informative yet interesting articles which table tennis lovers and random people could gain some insights from them. Look out for my articles about Throwback Thursday, Women's World Cup Preview, Y2Klub and Chinese Junior National Championships coming over the next week or so. I hope you have been enjoying all the articles from this blog and please fill in the short survey "What do you like about this blog" so that we can make better articles!
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