T2 Diamond 2019 Singapore Review

The T2 Diamond event in Singapore was once again a spectacular event. This time it was Xu Xin and Sun Yingsha that emerged victorious from battle in the T2 Cavern.

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The tournament turned up plenty of shocks including a win from Jeoung Youngsik over Liang Jingkun. The second game of the match saw the chance for Liang to level the scores after the game reached 10-10 however the sudden death point was won by Jeoung who extended his lead to 2-0. The next set was won by Liang and the following once again by Jeoung. As the 24th minute had been reached a Fast 5 game came in to play. This game played up to 5 points was won by Jeoung to secure the victory 4-1.

Another upset came in the semi-final of the men’s singles event. Continuing his good form from the previous T2 Diamond event in Malaysia, the Silent Assassin Lin Yun-Ju beat Lin Gaoyuan in 4 straight games in a comprehensive victory over the world number 3.

The final between Xu Xin and Lin Yun-Ju was another straight forward 4-0 win. This time for Xu Xin over the young player Lin.

The women’s event also saw its fair share of shock victories accompanied by sudden death points at 10-10 and Fast 5 games.

Firstly, in the round of 16, previous T2 champion Zhu Yuling was ousted by compatriot Wang Manyu. Two of the first 3 sets ended 11-10, one for each player. After just three sets the crucial 24th minute had been reached. With a 2-1 lead Zhu won the first Fast 5 game extending her lead. Wang then hit back with an excellent three Fast 5 games of her own securing the match 4-3.

In the semi-final match champion Sun Yingsha pulled off a similar victory over Wang Manyu coming from 3-1 down. Three straight Fast 5 games saw a dramatic twist in the match for Sun to comeback to a 4-3 victory.

In the bottom half of the draw South Korea’s Jeon Jihee had a fantastic victory of world number 1 Chen Meng. Jeon secured the close victory 4-3 after winning a tight first two sets 11-10 and then needing two of the three Fast 5 games played after the tie reached 2-2.

After breezing through the previous rounds not dropping more than 1 set to her any opponent, the fan favourite Mimo Ito reached the final against Sun Yingsha. The final was worthy of the stage and was won by the tightest of margins 4-3. The Fast 5 rule once again came in to play with the last 3 sets being 5-3, 3-5, 5-4 in favour of the champion Sun.

So, what do you think of the T2 Diamond events? The “no deuce” rule and the “fast 5” games seem to make the matches more tense and less predictable. Do you think the rules should be brought on to the World Tour circuit? Tell the TTD community what you think over on the forum and see all the discussion from fans around the globe.
 
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