December 2013 World Rankings

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The ITTF has updated the rankings again! The new rankings were published on December 4, 2013. According to ITTF's calendar, the next release will be January 4, 2013.


--- Fan Zhendong into World Top 5 ---

Chinese teenager nearly plays a hat trick of World Tour wins.


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Fan Zhendong - Polish and German Open champion. Photo by: ITTF


Four big World Tour events in November! The month started with the Polish Open, a short stop for the world's best before heading over to Berlin for the German Open. Furthermore there were 2 other Major series events played in Europe; The Russian Open and the Swedish Open. These events caused many changes in the rankings of this month.



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Simon Gauzy and Seo Hyowon - 2013 Polish Open gold medalists - Photos by: ITTF

The Polish Open had an interesting list of entries featuring many top players, but also some new Chinese names which often results in several unexpected match outcomes.

...However the well-known players were the ones who reached the semi finals in Spala. Kenta Matsudaira took the deciding 7th set against Liang Jingkun, but couldn't reach the final due to Fan Zhendong being in top form. On the other side Chuang Chih-Yuan lost his rematch against Zhou Yu, after beating him exactly a year ago. Fan Zhendong showed no mercy and took the title, being the new youngest World Tour winner ever.

Korea's Seo Hyowon chopped her way through the tournament in style. On her way to the final she already beat Chinese talents Zhang Qiang and Wen Jia; in the final Sheng Dandan suffered defeat. Top seed Ai Fukahara left with bronze.



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Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska - 2013 German Open Doubles Champions - Photo by: Butterfly

In front of his homecrowd it was Dmitrij Ovtcharov's task to defend his German Open 2012 title. However, the entry list showed more competition than last time. Ovtcharov again proved why he is ranked above Timo Boll through a 4-2 win after also defeating Jun Mizutani. On the other half it was Fan Zhendong dominating again; Revenge against world champion Zhang Jike (4-2) and World Cup 2013 runner-up Samsonov (4-2). The final was an impressive high quality match, but Ovtcharov could not defend his title; Fan wins 2 World Tours in a row.

Ai Fukuhara again got close to a big win again but Wen Jia had no problems with her short pimple attacking strategy; the result was a 0-4 loss. Nevertheless both players experience a nice jump in this month's rankings... The 9th and 22nd place.
In the last match of the day it was up to Boll and Franziska to treat the audience by taking the last available title back to Germany; they needed a deciding 5th set to take the men's doubles gold.


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Kazuhiro Chan and Ding Ning - 2013 Russian Open winners - Photo by: ITTF

While most of the Polish and German Open players took a short rest, Russia welcomed several of the women's top names.

The men's event featured a clash between Russian players as well as some youngsters of the Chinese Super League. The enthousiastic crowd pushed Alexander Shibaev to his limits as he beats Cheng Jingqi 4-2 in the semis. Chan Kazuhiro, the top seed, showed what he was capable of by defeating one of the rare penhold players Zheng Peifeng. All finals were great shows for the audience. Sadly Shibaev couldn't manage to take the 7th set; Chan takes the 3rd World Tour of 2013 title for Japan. However, team Russia consisting of Liventsov and Paikov did take home the doubles gold.

As mentioned earlier several top 10 players competed in the women's category. Wu Yang and Zhu Yuling were left with bronze while Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen fought against each other for the 7th in a World Tour final. The result was a close 4-3 win for Ding Ning.


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Chen Meng and Yan An - 2013 Swedish Open winners - Photos by: ITTF

Fan Zhendong heads back to Sweden to compete for a hat trick. However, his Stiga colleagues are there as well.

Only one outsider joins the battle for the final; Panagiotis Gionis keeps improving his defensive game and reaches the semi final where he meets Yan An. Yan An overcame his fear for choppers (losing against Yuto Muramatsu and Joo Se Hyuk earlier this year) and defeats Gionis impressively: 4-0. Fan Zhendong also showing some great wins over Xu Xin and (again) Zhou Yu, surely seemed to be taking his 3rd title within a month. However, Yan An clinched the title in the end.

Chen Meng showed that she had more experience than the new names. She had a tough match against Mu Zi (4-3) in the semi final, but showed less problems in the final match against Li Xiaodan.

Interesting doubles combinations consisting of Chinese and Swedish players proved well; Xu Xin and Jens Lundqvist beat opponents and teammates Yan An and Par Gerell in the final.


This month's notable changes
5 (11) Fan Zhendong
18 (37) Zhou Yu
32 (44) Andrej Gacina
54 (125) Liam Pitchford
68 (91) Kim Jung Hoon
75 (96) Simon Gauzy
98 (119) Ahmet Li
101 (140) Hung Tzu-Hsiang
112 (199) Liang Jingkun
114 (161) Wong Chun Ting
128 (unr) Zhai Chao
162 (348) Artur Grigorev

09 (14) Ai Fukuhara
12 (18) Seo Hyowon
22 (37) Wen Jia
29 (66) Hu Limei
50 (82) Yuka Ishigaki
63 (87) Mima Ito
78 (110) Miu Hirano
83 (unr) Wang Xuan
88 (unr) Mu Zi
89 (unr) Sheng Dandan
98 (138) Zhang Qiang
128 (182) Camelia Postoaca


Men's World Rankings
01 (<<) Ma Long
02 (<<) Xu Xin
03 (04) Zhang Jike
04 (03) Wang Hao
05 (11) Fan Zhendong
06 (05) Dmitrij Ovtcharov
07 (08) Yan An
08 (06) Timo Boll
09 (07) Chuang Chih-Yuan
10 (09) Vladimir Samsonov
11 (10) Ma Lin
12 (<<) Wang Liqin
13 (14) Jun Mizutani
14 (13) Hao Shuai
15 (18) Kenta Matsudaira
16 (15) Koki Niwa
17 (22) Marcos Freitas
18 (37) Zhou Yu
19 (17) Joo Se Hyuk
20 (16) Gao Ning
21 (20) Tang Peng
22 (19) Chen Qi
23 (25) Chen Chien-An
24 (21) Patrick Baum
24 (27) Bastian Steger
26 (23) Ryu Seung Min
27 (31) Kim Min Seok
28 (30) Adrian Crisan
29 (28) Michael Maze
30 (26) Zhan Jian
31 (26) Jiang Tianyi
29 (<<) Bastian Steger
30 (31) Oh Sang Eun
31 (30) Kim Min Seok
32 (44) Andrej Gacina


Women's World Rankings
01 (<<) Liu Shiwen
02 (<<) Ding Ning
03 (<<) Li Xiaoxia
04 (<<) Feng Tianwei
05 (06) Wu Yang
06 (08) Chen Meng
07 (05) Zhu Yuling
08 (07) Guo Yan
09 (14) Ai Fukuhara
10 (09) Kasumi Ishikawa
11 (10) Guo Yue
12 (18) Seo Hyowon
13 (<<) Shen Yanfei
14 (12) Jiang Huajun
15 (11) Feng Yalan
16 (17) Li Jiao

Upcoming month: World Junior Championships!

Discuss!
 
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Dan

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As always Steven amazing review! I really look forward to the release of each months ranking to read your write up! I think we all hear love them!

Fan Zhendong, wow what a man! Top 5 at the age of 16. It only feels like he has been on the scene properly for a few months :D There have been some fascinating jumps this ranking period. I am wondering, how far can Zhou Yu go? Will he be a similar ranking of Chen Qi or Hao Shuai, or could he break that top 5 barrier also?

Kenta is now top 15. I would like to start seeing Jun Mizutani taking out the big guns again.
 
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As always Steven amazing review! I really look forward to the release of each months ranking to read your write up! I think we all hear love them!

Fan Zhendong, wow what a man! Top 5 at the age of 16. It only feels like he has been on the scene properly for a few months :D There have been some fascinating jumps this ranking period. I am wondering, how far can Zhou Yu go? Will he be a similar ranking of Chen Qi or Hao Shuai, or could he break that top 5 barrier also?

Kenta is now top 15. I would like to start seeing Jun Mizutani taking out the big guns again.
I think zhou you can break the top 5 given the right amount of opportunties... but I don't think he wll be given enough opportunities..
 
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I think zhou you can break the top 5 given the right amount of opportunties... but I don't think he wll be given enough opportunities..

When one era/generation ends, the next gen will have more oppurtunities.

WLQ, Ma Lin, Wang Hao is out now, together with the other 28 year old + players
XX, ZLK, ML is current

New gen that were being tested in Nov:
FZD, ZY, YA will get more and more oppurtunity.
There are still plenty of U21s knocking on the door too
 
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When one era/generation ends, the next gen will have more oppurtunities.

WLQ, Ma Lin, Wang Hao is out now, together with the other 28 year old + players
XX, ZLK, ML is current

New gen that were being tested in Nov:
FZD, ZY, YA will get more and more oppurtunity.
There are still plenty of U21s knocking on the door too
yes, but sad to say ZY is already 22 years old which is only a year younger than XX. I don't think he really is in the "next generation". plus He did not meet the expectations of the coaches in his performances in the past unlike YA, That is why YA at 21 years of age is getting more opportunities than him.
 
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I think the only guy who's (a little) better than FZ is ML. ZJ also, maybe, if he goes back to his best level.
 
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I think the only guy who's (a little) better than FZ is ML. ZJ also, maybe, if he goes back to his best level.

FZD will reach at ML level eventually, but its still long long way to go... ML was exactly what FZD is achieving at the moment when he was age of 16. Plus more than 10 years experience as well as being No.1, it sounds easy but absolutely not. To maintain your dominance in table tennis, in CNT, one should be always improved, break through their limits. If you have read what Xu Xin answered in his recent interview with TTD, being always improved is such a talent, a creativity and definitely the hardest goal for Mr. Number 1

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