sakumi, by the way you're writing it's pretty clear you're a pretty new player still. not much experience with different styles.
the part of table tennis that makes someone better, is figuring out their style and learning how to deal with it appropriately. don't just do the same thing if it's not working. these flat hitters are better than you if they can deal with your ball and you can't deal with theirs. Don't stress it, learn what to do DIFFERENTLY.
and no, more power isn't the way to go
[/QUOTE
Yeh, I completely agree with what you said about learning different styles. My coaches strongly recommend and enforce the use of top spin and sometimes backspin so when a player like this turns up it is quite unusual. TBH, I think I just need to play in more competitions. I have been playing for 3 years so yes, I am pretty new. When I play these players I have a win percentage of about 70%, what is frustrating is that crucial games can be that 30% loss. My mentality also has a huge part to play in this as well.
This has been very helpful, thanks