No one had ever won two consecutive titles in the men’s Singles or men’s Doubles at the Australian Open, held this year in Geelong. But that changed on Sunday:
● China’s Xin Xu – known in the sport as XU-perman – defended his 2018 title by sweeping past countryman Chuqin Wang in straight sets, 4-0. It was Xu’s third tournament win in a row, after taking the Japan Open and Korea Open over the last month.
● Korea’s Youngsik Jeong and Sangsu Lee also won the second straight title, this time by defeating Gaoyuan Lin and Long Ma from China, 3-0.
The Chinese won three of the five divisions, and women’s Singles winner Yingsha Sun was especially impressive in stomping 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Ning Ding, 4-0, in the all-Chinese final. Sun had also won the Japan over in June.
Meng Chen and Manyu Wang of China won the women’s Doubles, 3-1, over Korea’s Jihee Jeon and Haeun Yang. It was the third straight women’s Doubles title for Chen and second in row for Chen and Wang together.
The ITTF World Tour takes a break now and resumes in Europe with the Bulgaria Open in August. Summaries:
ITTF World Tour/Australian Open
Geelong (AUS) ~ 9-14 July 2019
(Full results here)
Men/Singles: 1. Xin Xu (CHN); 2. Chuqin Wang (CHN); 3. Long Ma (CHN) and Patrick Franziska (GER). Semis: Xu d. Franziska, 4-3; Wang d. Ma, 4-2. Final: Xu d. Wang, 4-0.
Men/Doubles: 1. Youngsik Jeoung/Sangsu Lee (KOR); 2. Gaoyuan Lin/Long Ma (CHN); 3. Amalraj Anthony/Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) and Zhendong Fan/Xin Xu (CHN). Semis: Jeoung/Lee d. Anthony/Gnanasekaran, 3-0; Lin/Ma d. Fan/Xu, 3-1. Final: Jeoung/Lee d. Lin/Ma, 3-0.
Women/Singles: 1. Yingsha Sun (CHN); 2. Ning Ding (CHN); 3. Kasmi Ishikawa (JPN) and Mima Ito (JPN). Semis: Sun d. Ishikawa, 4-0; Ding d. Ito, 4-3. Final: Sun d. Ding, 4-0.
Women/Doubles: 1. Meng Chen/Manyu Wang (CHN); 2. Jihee Jeon/Haeun Yang (KOR); 3. Miyuu Kihara/Miyu Nagasaki (JPN) and Hyojoo Choi/Eunhye Lee (KOR). Semis: Chen/Wang d. Kihara, Nagasaki, 3-0; Jeon/Yang d. Choi/Lee, 3-0. Final: Chen/Wang d. Leon/Yang, 3-1.
Mixed Doubles: 1. Chun Ting Wong/Hoi Kem Doo (HKG); 2. Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito (JPN); 3. Yun-Ju Lin/I-Ching Cheng (TPE) and Sangsu Lee/Jihee Jeon (KOR). Semis: Mizutani/Ito d. Lin/Cheng, 3-0; Wong/Doo d. Lee/Jeon, 3-0. Final: Wong/Doo d. Mizutani/Ito, 3-1.
