WTT Singapore Smash 2024 3/7-3/17

[NextLevel]

MS R16
Boll 3-1 LSD (-7, -8, 5, -10)

As predicted by some Tieba users, Boll toyed with 小小胖.

But if the umpires hadn't stepped in, the result could have been entirely different.

 

[blahness]

Pity Fan Zhendong who plays way too fair

 

[d3nium]

Boll is such a legend, although I'm still not happy with him for pulling out the recent WTT Manchester feeder.

I'm glad the umpire finally called out Lin's serves

 

[Emin]

I think Dima will win.
Ill explain later why.

 

[NextLevel]

I agree completely - his weapons just don't look effective against the CNT players

Is it a CNT player thing or a Wang Chuqin thing?

 

[Emin]

New T-Shirt, new Dima.

 

[zeio]

Partly because he has taken it to a level where the quality of the serve is almost impossible to read from the bounce and the third ball is so strong if you go long that it doesn't matter if you keep the ball onnthe table. Against his quality of third ball, the ability to read the ball and give a quality return is much more important. But Ma Long has been getting away with such crap for years so....

WCQ has a bigger-than-average head (East Asians have the biggest head) and so I guess that's why more players find it more annoying.

Despite the hidden advantage, WCQ's game is still vulnerable as he has lost the same amount of foreign matches as FZD in this cycle, IIRC.

 

[Tempest/Comet]

Goodness! Other than their XD pair which made it to the semifinal, with only 5 months to go, the entire Japan Paris contingent has been wiped out by R16.
Other than Ito…

 

[Janard]

Boll is so well-respected among TT fans that even Chinese netizens are not supportive of LSD LOL

"遮都没遮赢" "Didn't manage to win even through hiding (serves)"

"永久进黑名单，球品见人品" "to be blacklisted permanently, you can tell how a person is by the way s/he behaves on court"

"能把波叔逼急的那就说明问题大了波叔可是绅士到能比赛主动失误还分的存在的" "Infuriating Uncle Boll is a clear sign that something is terribly wrong as he is usually so civil/gentlemanly/fair, till the extent that he will lose a point on purpose in the face of misjudgment/injustice"

"要是波尔打到决赛对上王楚钦……" "Imagine Boll makes it to the finals and face WCQ... (will he complain)"

 

[KiwiPong]

Goodness! Other than their XD pair which made it to the semifinal, with only 5 months to go, the entire Japan Paris contingent has been wiped out by R16.
Other than Ito…

She hasn’t ran into a Chinese……. yet lol

 

[dchen]

But if the umpires hadn't stepped in, the result could have been entirely different.

I mean LSD's serves were illegal wdym?

 

[zeio]

MS R16
Franziska 3-2 Ovtcharov

F. Lebrun 3-0 Karlsson (10, 6, 9)
G3 38, 58, 59, 119
Ended in 20m!

 

[Emin]

Guess I was wrong,
WP Franziska.

 

[Egon]

"要是波尔打到决赛对上王楚钦……" "Imagine Boll makes it to the finals and face WCQ... (will he complain)"

In the final there will be Boll and Achanta, it's joke 🤣

 

[zeio]

Goodness! Other than their XD pair which made it to the semifinal, with only 5 months to go, the entire Japan Paris contingent has been wiped out by R16.
Other than Ito…

Kihara: Good of me to pair up with Joo Cheonhui. Best odds of reaching the final.

 

[turbozed]

Even Adam Bobrow talked a little critically about WCQs serves without saying it right away.
Only describing how Truls was complaining and how he was probably unable to see the Ball contact etc. .
Not outright saying anything that could get him in trouble ofc.

Is this the event that changes the zeitgeist regarding illegal serves? I've never seen so many lets and faults called by refs for low/not vertical tosses. Some matches I watched had it happen 3 or 4 times. And now we got Bobrow pointing out the problematic tosses of WCQ (of course he had to compliment the serves themselves to sweeten the criticism a bit).

Also, does anyone else think it not coincidental that WCQ comes in with permed extra poofy hair specifically for the highest prize event of the year?

Anyway I'm diggin that this is finally happening. It's not enough to make a difference yet at this point, but mabe it's the start of something.

Edit: Singapore is a city/country that is strictly observant of rules so maybe this might be a one-off thing and we get back to lazy spineless refs after this is done.

 

[Shine]

WCQ has a bigger-than-average head (East Asians have the biggest head) and so I guess that's why more players find it more annoying.

Despite the hidden advantage, WCQ's game is still vulnerable as he has lost the same amount of foreign matches as FZD in this cycle, IIRC.

The shovel obviously has some sinister purposes behind it.
But this match against Truls, he used his normal pendulum serve throughout and yet Truls was complaining, Is there a possibility that that's just the way he learnt it from the coaches?? Or there's something with the mechanics of the pendulum that makes it difficult to serve cleanly? Maybe he can't really control the rotation of his torso during the service motion and the ball contact is behind his head??
Apart from FZD whose pendulum serve looks clean, his reverse looks iffy to me though. Any east asian pro with very clean Chinese style pendulum serves at the point of contact??

 

[zeio]

CSY is finally showing her value in XD.

 

[Wrighty67]

Is it a CNT player thing or a Wang Chuqin thing?

For me it's not limited to Wang, but rather any player with a higher level of FH attack.

 

[Egon]

I really enjoyed Lind's friendly support and advice in Achanta's matches. Timo Boll also surprised again. In general, it is a very interesting situation when two players over 40 years old can defeat so many young strong players and go so far.