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This month's review! Made by TableTennisDaily World Ranking reviewer @Steven




--- Big changes in subtop! ---


While the top 10's show no changes, big jumps are made by top 100 players.


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Jang Woojin and Zhou Qihao - Two of the most successful players of June - Photo by: ITTF





Past month showed two big events: The China Open, the Korea Open and the Japan Open.




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Ma Long and Ding Ning - 2014 China Open Champions - Photos by: ITTF


The China Open was held in Chengdu at the start of the month and it usually has the world's best players in its lineup.
Chinese players posessed the top 4 seed in both the men's and the women's event and they definitely showed their dominance...

Singapore's Gao Ning appeared to be the biggest hurdle for the Chinese men. In the quarter finals he pushed Xu Xin to his limit in what resulted to be a 3-4 loss. Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong had less problems as they all reached the semi finals with a 4-1 victory. After Xu Xin defeated Zhang Jike it was again a close call for Ma Long: a 4-3 victory over young Fan Zhendong. It was an important match for Ma Long on his way to the title in Chengdu as Ma Long also beat Xu Xin in the final, 4-1.

No huge upsets in the women's event either as top seeds Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning and Chen Meng reached the semi finals. World ranked #1 and #2 Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning raced into the finals as expected, but that's where it got exciting. At the end of a tight match it was Ding Ning who kept cool as she won the deciding set 11-2.



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Han Ying and Xu Xin - 2014 Korea Open Champions - Photos by: ITTF


The Korea Open was held in Incheon City a week later. More European players competed here while the top Chinese players dropped out. Only Xu Xin was still there, leading a new generation of Chinese talents.

Things got even better for Xu Xin after 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds Gao Ning, Koki Niwa and Kim Min Seok lost their matches before the round of 16. Patrick Baum and Steffen Mengel were responsible for the defeat of the Chinese youngsters Zhou Kai and Zhou Qihao. However, Fang Bo seemed a step too far. Xu Xin finished his business as expected first by defeating Kristian Karlsson in the semi finals and then teammate Fang Bo in the final.

Feng Tianwei seemed to be on the same road as Xu Xin in the women's event as 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds Seo Hyowon, Kasumi Ishikawa and Ai Fukuhara were knocked out in the round of 16. In the semi final she clearly knew how to beat her opponent and teammate Yu Mengyu. The other finalist was Han Ying of Germany who impressively beat Korea's Yang Haeun by 4-0. Han Ying even repeated this sweep in the final.




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Yu Ziyang and Feng Tianwei - 2014 Japan Open Champions - Photos by: ITTF


Again a week later the Japan Open was held in Yokohama. Feng Tianwei returned with her mission of winning the title after her loss in Korea.

Han Ying had dropped out but Feng's previous opponents, Kasumi Ishikawa, Ai Fukuhara and Yu Mengyu, were also there. Young Chinese players could not harm any of these top seeds as only Fukuhara was defeated before the semi finals. The result was a battle between Feng Tianwei and the homecrowd's favourite Kasumi Ishikawa. Some very tight games were played but in the end Feng showed why she is ranked higher with a 4-2 victory.

Top seed in the men's event this time was Chuang Chih-Yuan but sadly he got knocked out in his first match against Ueda Jin. This gave big opportunities for 2nd seed Jun Mizutani as 3rd and 4th seed Koki Niwa and Chen Chien-An had to leave in the round of 32. This also opened up the road for new faces; Yu Ziyang, Kang Dong Soo, Zhou Kai and Yuto Muramatsu found their way to the quarter finals. Jun Mizutani had some tough matches but eventually reached the final as well. Sadly, the Japanese homecrowd was left disappointed again as Yu Ziyang of China emerged as the new youngest ever world tour winner.​




This month's most notable changes
14 (19) TANG Peng
17 (24) BAUM Patrick
20 (26) STEGER Bastian
43 (182) YU Ziyang
44 (74) MURAMATSU Yuto
47 (60) MORIZONO Masataka
49 (73) CHIANG Hung-Chieh
78 (96) KARLSSON Kristian
80 (136) ZHOU Kai
82 (112) ZHOU Qihao
83 (108) HUANG Sheng-Sheng
88 (140) JANG Woojin

9 (15) HAN Ying ^
10 (13) YU Mengyu
16 (26) YANG Haeun
19 (29) YU Fu ^
29 (38) WAKAMIYA Misako
34 (45) LEE I-Chen
35 (60) CHEN Szu-Yu
39 (58) LI Jie
62 (88) CHEN Xingtong
63 (91) SATO Hitomi
66 (99) WANG Manyu
76 (100) MATSUDAIRA Shiho




Men's World Rankings
1 (1) XU Xin
2 (2) MA Long
3 (3) FAN Zhendong
4 (4) OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
5 (5) ZHANG Jike
6 (6) WANG Hao
7 (7) CHUANG Chih-Yuan
8 (8) MIZUTANI Jun

9 (9) YAN An
10 (10) BOLL Timo
11 (11) SAMSONOV Vladimir
12 (12) GAO Ning
-- (14) ZHOU Yu
13 (13) FREITAS Marcos
14 (19) TANG Peng
15 (15) NIWA Koki
-- (--) HAO Shuai
16 (16) JOO Saehyuk

17 (24) BAUM Patrick
18 (17) KIM Minseok
19 (21) CHO Eonrae
20 (26) STEGER Bastian
21 (18) CHEN Chien-An
22 (20) MATSUDAIRA Kenta
23 (27) GIONIS Panagiotis
24 (25) APOLONIA Tiago
25 (28) CRISAN Adrian
26 (--) FANG Bo
27 (23) SHIONO Masato
28 (32) KISHIKAWA Seiya
28 (30) MAZE Michael
30 (22) GACINA Andrej
31 (31) GARDOS Robert
32 (33) JUNG Youngsik



Women's World Rankings
1 (1) LIU Shiwen
2 (2) DING Ning
3 (3) LI Xiaoxia
4 (4) FENG Tianwei
5 (5) CHEN Meng
6 (6) ZHU Yuling
7 (7) WU Yang
8 (9) ISHIKAWA Kasumi

9 (15) HAN Ying ^
10 (13) YU Mengyu
11 (8) SEO Hyowon
12 (10) LIU Jia
13 (11) FUKUHARA Ai
14 (17) LI Fen ^
15 (13) LEE Ho Ching
16 (26) YANG Haeun

17 (18) HIRANO Sayaka
17 (12) LI Jiao
19 (29) YU Fu ^
20 (16) PAVLOVICH Viktoria
21 (20) SAMARA Elizabeta
-- (21) HU Limei
22 (19) SHAN Xiaona ^
-- (--) SHEN Yanfei
23 (22) JEON Jihee ^
24 (23) RI Myong Sun
-- (24) LIU Fei
-- (--) WEN Jia
25 (27) DOO Hoi Kem
25 (28) ISHIGAKI Yuka
27 (24) JIANG Huajun
28 (31) NG Wing Nam
29 (38) WAKAMIYA Misako
30 (36) CHENG I-Ching
31 (33) MORIZONO Misaki
32 (32) HU Melek




In July: European Youth Championships!
 
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