March World Rankings 2014

Xu Xin takes back the top position from Ma Long.
Furthermore Fan Zhendong completes the top 3 this time. After passing Wang Hao last month, this time it's Zhang Jike who drops down one spot.


Xu Xin - Back at the top of the world - Photo by: ITTF


Past month showed three big events: The DHS Europe Cup, and two major World Tours: the Kuwait Open and the Qatar Open.


Marcos Freitas and Liu Jia - 2014 DHS Cup Winners - Photos by: ITTF


The DHS Europe Cup gathered a lot of interest because of the comeback of Michael Maze.
Maze passed through the group stage but awaited a big challenge; on the same side of his draw were Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov, as well as the defender Panagiotis Gionis. Ovtcharov won a long battle (4-3) against Boll but Maze showed that he really was 'back' as he defeated both Gionis and Ovtcharov to book a place in the final. At the other side of the draw Marcos Freitas defeated Alexander Shibaev and Adrien Mattenet. Freitas continued his consistent gameplay in the final with a 4-0 championship victory.

Meanwhile in the women's tournament the top seeds also had their problems caused by one player. Both Li Jiao and Viktoria Pavlovich ended first in their groups but it was Liu Jia of Austria causing the upsets. Liu Jia already won the Hungarian Open a month earlier. Her quarter final match against Wu Jiaduo was the hardest; Liu Jia came back from 0-3 behind. After that she defeated both top seeds, Li Jiao and Pavlovich respectively to take the crown.




Fan Zhendong and Zhu Yuling - 2014 Kuwait Open Champions - Photos by: ITTF


Every year the top of world travels to the Middle-East to compete in two well-known World Tour events. The Kuwait Open is the first one of them.

China sent out a lot of their younger players to see how they would perform. One of them is Fan Zhendong, who has become top seed for the first time. Luckily others helped cleaning his path to the final. Chuang Chih-Yuan already lost in the round of 32 against Robert Gardos. Later Zhou Yu got rid of Jun Mizutani in the quarter finals. Wong Chun Ting fought well by defeating both Seiya Kishikawa and Kenta Matsudaira. In the end, the two top seeds proved their ranking: Fan Zhendong won the title by defeating Yan An in the final.

The top seeded women had no problems reaching the quarter finals but that's where it got interesting. Kasumi Ishikawa sealed a 4-3 victory by 16-14 in the deciding set against Wu Yang, a player who seldom loses against non-Chinese players. Chen Meng easily got rid of top seed Liu Shiwen in a 4-0 win. But in the end, it was Zhu Yuling who won her first ever World Tour event.





Xu Xin and Hu Limei - 2014 Qatar Open Winners - Photos by: ITTF


The second event of the "Middle-East-Tour" is the Qatar Open. Even more top players, including Ma Long and Xu Xin, gathered here to fight for the prize money.

This time Fan Zhendong already had his problems in the round of 32 where he was 0-3 behind against his previous doubles partner, Par Gerell. This match he could turn around and win 4-3, but his next match was fatal; a 3-4 loss against Cho Eon Rae. Meanwhile Ma Long had to give up because of an injury. His match against Masato Shiono had been exhausting. This meant Xu Xin was the only Chinese player left in the tournament, but did not experience any difficulties. After winning the Grand Finals in Dubai, Xu Xin added the Qatar Open to his list of championships by defeating Chuang Chih-Yuan in the final.

Where Kasumi Ishikawa had a great run in Kuwait, it was the opposite in Qatar. The no.2 seed lost her opening match against Katerina Penkakova of the Czech Republic. One round later it was departure for the no.1 seed Feng Tianwei as well, losing to Ng Wing Nam of Hongkong. The result was a battle between the lower ranked players. Doo Hoi Kem joined Ng Wing Nam in the semi finals which meant the chance of a Hongkong-only final, but Liu Jia again played very well and reached the final where she met Hu Limei of China. Long rallies were played, but Hu Limei was the most consistent player this time.


​