China’s Gaoyuan Lin put on quite a show at the Hong Kong Open, winning both the men’s Singles and men’s Doubles titles as the Chinese swept the men’s and women’s events.
The world’s no. 2-ranked Singles player came back from 1-2 down to win the title over Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, 4-2, and then teamed with Jingkun Liang to won the Doubles tournament by 3-1 over Koreans Woojin Jang and Jonghoon Lin.
The shock came in the women’s Singles, where no. 7-ranked Mima Ito (JPN) was favored in the final against 46th-ranked Yidi Wang, who had come through the qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw. But it was Wang who won easily: 11-3, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 for a 4-0 sweep and her first career World Tour gold.
Korean pairs finished second in all three Doubles finals; the only non-Chinese winner – so to speak – was Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Ju Lin and I-Ching Cheng in the Mixed Doubles, with a 3-0 sweep of Sangsu Lee and Hyojoo Choi. Summaries:
ITTF World Tour/Hong Kong Open
Hong Kong (HKG) ~ 6-9 June 2019
(Full results here)
Men/Singles: 1. Gaoyuan Lin (CHN); 2. Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN); 3. Jingkun Liang (CHN) and Yu Zhou (CHN). Semis: Lin d. Liang, 4-1; Harimoto d. Zhou, 4-1. Final: Lin d. Harimoto, 4-2.
Men/Doubles: 1. Jingkun Liang/Gaoyuan Lin (CHN); 2. Woojin Jang/Jonghoon Lim (KOR); 3. Kwan Kit Ho/Chun Ting Wong (HKG) and Cheng-Ting Liao/Yun-Ju Lin (KOR). Semis: Liang/Lin d. Ho/Wong, 3-1; Jang/Lim d. Liao/Lin, 301. Final: Liang/Lin d. Jang/Lim, 3-1.
Women/Singles: 1. Yidi Wang (CHN); 2. Mima Ito (JPN); 3. I-Ching Cheng (TPE) and Miu Hirano (JPN). Semis: Wang d. Cheng, 4-0; Ito d. Hirano. 4-2. Final: Wang d. Ito, 4-0.
Women/Doubles: 1. Ke Chen/Zi Mu (CHN); 2. Jihee Jeon/Eunchong Yoo (KOR); 3. Miyuu Kihara/Miyu Nagasaki (JPN) and Wing Nam Ng/Wai Yam Minnie Soo (HKG). Semis: Chen/Mu d. Kihara/Nagasaki, 3-1; Jeon/Yoo d. Ng/Soo, 3-1. Final: Chen/Mu d. Jeon/Yoo, 3-1.
Mixed Doubles: 1. Yun-Ju Lin/I-Ching Cheng (TPE); 2. Sangsu Lee/Hyojoo Choi (KOR); 3. Chun Ting Wong/Hoi Kem Doo (HKG) and Yu Zhou/Xingtong Chen (CHN). Semis: Lin/Cheng d. Wong/Doo, 3-2; Lee/Choi d. Zhou/Chen, 3-1. Final: Lin/Cheng d. Lee/Choi, 3-0.
