Czech Open 2019 (World Tour)

says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
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Tomorrow's SF match between Hirano and Ishikawa will have huge Olympic implications. They are only separated by 5 points in the World Rankings Points for January 2020 right now. (Hirano has 9590 points while Ishikawa has 9585). The winner will obviously gain the lead in the race for one of those 2 singles spots, but the benefit of winning the match has huge rest-of-the-year benefits.

For Ishikawa, a win allows her to overtake Hirano for the 2nd Olympic singles spot and allows her to maintain her current status as Japanese No. 1 based on WR.

For Hirano, a win not only gives her more breathing room with regard to her lead over Ishikawa, but also sets her up for a Top 4 seeding in the World Cup. This would effectively negate Ishikawa's advantage of meeting a Chinese opponent one round later than Hirano had Hirano still been seeded 5th. Furthermore, if Hirano can win the whole tournament, she will break into the top 8 in current WR while Ishikawa drops to 9th. This would mean that for the Swedish and German Opens, Hirano won't meet a top Chinese player till the QF, while Ishikawa will likely meet one in the R16. Hirano's seeding as compared to Ito's and Ishikawa's seedings has been one of her biggest obstacles in her race towards an Olympic Singles spot, but this one win would remedy that problem for the rest of the year.

I commend both players for stepping up when the situation called for it: Ishikawa for getting her revenge on He Zhuojia and Hirano for coming back from down 0-3 to save her Olympic hopes. I hope to see the same or an even greater fighting spirit from both players tomorrow.

Who will prevail? If we go by track records, the odds are against Hirano. Hmm, may the best player win.

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Look How they sweat... I think shibaev likes to drink vodka before the game and his body temperature is very high so the air condition near shibaev is vaporizing?!
 
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Look How they sweat... I think shibaev likes to drink vodka before the game and his body temperature is very high so the air condition near shibaev is vaporizing?!
There is no aircondition in the arena, it is really Hot inside.
During the match between Timo and Lee one guy almost fainted, some people helped him.
 
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Adam Bobrow during the match about Timo Boll, and the high number of outright winning serves:

"It's been twenty... twenty-three years since he has been making more money than his dad; the engineer - the cyclist. He's quite good at receiving serves."

1-0 LYJ!



Wow you would expect a backhand openers and counters galore from Lin Yun Ju, but it's the forehand flick winners that are incredible. And now chop blocks, too.

3-1

And the long serves!!

LYJ 3-2 Timo, Timo with some good shots but LYJ probably better on most aspects on aggregate. Now it's Timo, you never know. I can't pick a favourite!


Timo!!! Up in the decider, heavy spin for the win.

Jörg Rosskopf should wear a leather jacket.


Lin Yun Ju takes it 4-3! Sent Timo into the woodwork at 4-6 after what looked like a beast of a backhand. Timo almost with a really nice saves combination at 3-2, for a 38-year-old he's still pretty swift!
 
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says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
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Jan 2018
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TO too late. Should've called TO in G5. He lost that game too fast and the tables were turned.
 
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
Well-Known Member
Jan 2018
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Luck was on LYJ's side in G7. Can't rely on that at the majors.
 
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