May World Rankings 2015

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Review Moderator
Jul 2011
1,035
448
1,823
Read 7 reviews
The ITTF has published the new world rankings! These were released on May 3, 2015. All event results included in this ranking can be found here.


Fang Bo enters World Top 10!


WTTC-2015_Fang-Bo.jpg

Fang Bo, new World #8 in May 2015 - Photo by: tt-news.de


Despite losing the final of the WTTC, Fang Bo had a great tournament being the dark horse of the Chinese team. On his way to the final he managed to beat #3 Xu Xin and #2 Zhang Jike. These accomplishments boosted his ranking: from #14 to #8, his highest ranking ever!

The WTTC 2015 was held in Suzhou, China. Let's take a look back at what else has happened that week!




20150501_Table-Tennis-Yang-Ha-eun_Xu-Xin-world-mixed-doubles_ITTF_615x400.jpg

Yang Haeun and Xu Xin - 2015 WTTC Mixed Doubles Champions. Photo by: sport-asia.com


The Doubles Event featured an interesting change this year. For the first time at a WTTC, players of different nations were allowed to play doubles together.

The most anticipated team in the men's doubles event was formed by Timo Boll and Ma Long. Back in 2013 they had already won the doubles event of the China Open together. However, this time they had a tough draw. Already in the round of 32 they met Xu Xin and Zhang Jike. Despite the beautiful rallies it was an early exit for Boll and Ma Long. Last WTTC's champions Chuang Chih-Yuan and Chen Chien-An also suffered an early defeat in the same round so a new champion was guaranteed. Xu Xin and Zhang Jike then went on to find their first big challenge in the quarter finals where they managed to survive 2 match points against the pair of Morizono/Oshima. The victory of Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu over the other Japanese pair, Matsudaira/Niwa, led to an all-Chinese final where Xu Xin and Zhang Jike took the title with a 4-2 victory.

The first medal for a team of mixed nations was obtained in the women's doubles. The team of Dutch Li Jie and Poland's Li Qian had a tough first round but then easily found their way to the semi finals where they met Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia who had no problems with the defensive playing style. Another all-Chinese final was the result after Liu Shiwen en Zhu Yuling eliminated Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu in the other semi final. The final was a long and impressive match in which Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling eventually found their way to gold: 4-3.

Finally, there was the mixed doubles event, last time won by Korea DPR's pair of Kim Hyok Bong and Kim Jong. This first seeded team did their best and survived the Chinese pair of Yan An and Wu Yang, but one round later it was defeat for them as well as they were beaten by the pair of Ishikawa/Yoshimura. However, the Japanse pair had to be content with the silver medal as the mixed nation team of Xu Xin and Yang Haeun appeared to be this WTTC's golden combination.





ma_long_03_05_15_Large.jpg
ding_ning_02_05_15_Large.jpg

Ma Long and Ding Ning - 2015 World Champions. Photos by: ITTF

The Singles Event showed some interesting upsets and dramatic matches this year. The first big upset in the women's event was caused by Chinese talent Mu Zi, accounting for a 4-0 victory against Kasumi Ishikawa. Two rounds later she did the same thing in her match with Asian Cup winner Feng Tianwei. On the other side of the draw Mima Ito found her way to the quarter final, where she took a 2-0 lead against reigning Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia, but in the end she suffered a 4-2 loss. The resulting semi finals were all-Chinese, where Liu Shiwen posted a victory over Li Xiaoxia in order to reach the WTTC final for the first time. Ding Ning, in the other semi final, had a tough match against Mu Zi but managed to reach the final as well. In a dramatic final, including an ankle injury in the 7th set, the world champion of 2011 Ding Ning regained her well-deserved title.

One of the big questions in the men's event was whether or not Zhang Jike could manage to win his 3rd WTTC title in a row. His chances increased as top European players Marcos Freitas and Dimitrij Ovtcharov were both eliminated before the round of 16. Zhang Jike quite easily dealt with Samsonov and Mizutani on his path, but was surprisingly eliminated by Fang Bo, who had earlier also defeated Xu Xin. On the other side of the draw Europe's hope Timo Boll was knocked out by young Fan Zhendong. However, Ma Long managed to reach his first WTTC final by showing less problems than usual against Fan. Despite winning against the world ranked #3 and #2, Fang Bo could not go on to beat the #1: Ma Long became the new world champion with a 4-2 victory.






This month's most notable changes
8 (14) FANG Bo
11 (13) TANG Peng
26 (47) LEE Sangsu
28 (56) FRANZISKA Patrick
32 (44) ACHANTA Sharath Kamal
34 (41) LIANG Jingkun
48 (61) JIANG Tianyi
49 (62) PITCHFORD Liam
49 (63) FEGERL Stefan
57 (69) CHEN Weixing
58 (80) KOU Lei
63 (90) PATTANTYUS Adam

5 (6) ZHU Yuling
11 (15) ITO Mima
13 (16) YU Mengyu
17 (21) YANG Haeun
20 (27) LI Jie
28 (40) CHENG I-Ching
45 (63) BILENKO Tetyana
58 (75) PARK Youngsook
61 (76) EKHOLM Matilda
71 (95) GRZYBOWSKA Katarzyna
73 (95) DOLGIKH Maria
84 (100) GAPONOVA Ganna






Men's World Rankings
1 (1) MA Long
2 (2) XU Xin
3 (3) ZHANG Jike
4 (4) FAN Zhendong
5 (5) MIZUTANI Jun
6 (6) OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
7 (7) BOLL Timo
8 (14) FANG Bo

9 (9) SAMSONOV Vladimir
10 (8) FREITAS Marcos
11 (12) NIWA Koki
11 (13) TANG Peng
13 (10) CHUANG Chih-Yuan
14 (11) YAN An
15 (15) GAO Ning
16 (17) JOO Saehyuk

17 (16) ZHOU Yu
18 (18) WONG Chun Ting
19 (22) GIONIS Panagiotis
20 (24) JUNG Youngsik
21 (19) BAUM Patrick
22 (20) APOLONIA Tiago
23 (20) GARDOS Robert
24 (23) MURAMATSU Yuto

25 (26) STEGER Bastian
26 (47) LEE Sangsu
27 (25) MATSUDAIRA Kenta
28 (56) FRANZISKA Patrick
29 (33) KIM Minseok
30 (35) MONTEIRO Joao
31 (31) MENGEL Steffen
32 (44) ACHANTA Sharath Kamal





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

9 (9) HAN Ying ^
10 (10) CHEN Meng
11 (15) ITO Mima
12 (11) SEO Hyowon
13 (16) YU Mengyu
14 (14) DOO Hoi Kem
15 (13) HIRANO Sayaka
16 (12) LIU Jia

17 (21) YANG Haeun
18 (18) SAMARA Elizabeta
19 (17) POTA Georgina
20 (27) LI Jie
20 (19) YU Fu ^
22 (20) ISHIGAKI Yuka
23 (22) SOLJA Petrissa
24 (26) RI Myong Sun

25 (23) LIU Fei
26 (24) JEON Jihee ^
27 (34) JIANG Huajun
28 (40) CHENG I-Ching
29 (36) HIRANO Miu
30 (30) LEE Ho Ching
31 (35) SHEN Yanfei
32 (29) SHAN Xiaona ^
32 (28) HU Melek






Full rankings can be found here.
In May: the Belarus Open, Croatia Open and Philippines Open!
 
This user has no status.
Half of the Top 10 players are Chinese o_O Imagine Wang Hao and Wang Liqin would still play then it would probably be 7/10

At least with men top 10 there are non Chinese players, from Europe, while with women rankings, there are non Chinese players among top 10, but, they all are Asians.
 
Top