China fielded three Olympic gold medalists from Rio in the Asarel Bulgaria Open in Panagyurishte and all three ended up with wins.
Olympic women’s Singles winner Ning Ding won her division as China won gold, silver and one of the two bronze medals in the women’s Singles, then Xin Xu – a Team gold medalist in Rio – defeated Kenta Matsudaira (JPN) for the men’s Singles title. It’s Xu’s second straight win in a World Tour event after the Australian Open in July.
Xu then teamed with Rio Singles winner Long Ma to win the men’s Doubles title. Japan’s third-seeded Mima Ito and Kasumi Ishikawa won the women’s Doubles title. Summaries:
ITTF World Tour/Bulgaria Open
Panagyurishte (BUL) ~ 16-19 August 2018
(Full results here)
Men’s Singles: 1. Xin Xu (CHN); 2. Kenta Matsudaira (JPN); 3. Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) and Te Ma (CHN). Semis: Matsudaira d. Harimoto, 4-2; Xu d. Ma, 4-0. Final: Xu d. Matsudaira, 4-1 (12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4).
Men’s Doubles: 1. Long Ma/Xin Xu (CHN); 2. Masataka Morizono/Yuya Oshima (JPN); 3. Paul Drinkhall/Liam Pitchford (ENG) and Cheng-Ting Liao/Yun-Ju Lin (TPE). Semis: Ma/Xu d. Liao/Lin, 3-1; Morizono/Oshima d. Drinkhall/Pitchford, 3-2. Final: Ma/Xu d. Morizono/Oshima, 3-1 (9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6).
Women’s Singles: 1. Ning Ding (CHN); 2. Yidi Wang (CHN); 3. Gaoyang Liu (CHN) and Hitomi Sato (JPN). Semis: Wang d. Sato, 4-2; Ding d. Liu, 4-1. Final: Ding d. Wang, 4-3 (11-7, 10-12, 8-11, 1-8, 11-6, 4-11, 11-2).
Women’s Doubles: 1. Mima Ito/Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN); 2. Gaoyang Liu/Rui Zhang (CHN); 3. Hina Hayata/Miu Hirano (JPN) and Honoka Hashimoto/Hitomi Sato (JPN). Semis: Liu/Zhang d. Hashimoto/Sato, 3-0; Ishikawa/Ito d. Hayata/Hirano, 3-2. Final: Ito/Ishikawa d. Liu/Zhang, 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6).
