The fourth of six ITTF World Tour Platinum events on tour this season has started at the Geelong Arena in Australia, with most of the top players in the world entered in the Australian Open.
The tournament has attracted 15 of the top 16 in the ITTF men’s World Rankings and the top 13 players in the women’s rankings. The top seeds, with ITTF World Rankings for the Singles divisions:
● Men/Singles:
1. Zhendong Fan (CHN: 1)
2. Gaoyuan Liu (CHN: 2)
3. Xin Xu (CHN: 3) ~ Defending Champion
● Men/Doubles:
1. Youngsik Jeong/Sangsu Lee (KOR) ~ Defending Champions
2. Kwan Kit Ho/Chun Ting Wong (HKG)
3. Woojin Jang/Joon-Hoon Lim (KOR)
● Women/Singles:
1. Meng Chen (CHN: 1)
2. Shiwen Liu (CHN: 2) ~ Defending Champion
3. Ning Ding (CHN: 3) ~ 2018 runner-up
● Women/Doubles:
1. Meng Chen/Manyu Wang (CHN)
2. Jihee Jeon/Haeun Yang (KOR)
3. Barbora Balasova (SVK)/Hana Matelova (CZE)
● Mixed Doubles:
1. Xun Xu/Shiwen Liu (CHN)
2. Chun Ting Wong/Hoi Kem Doo (HKG)
3. Yun-Ju Lin/I-Ching Cheng (KOR)
Both of the 2016 Olympic champs – Long Ma (CHN) and Ding (CHN) are entered, as are the current World Champions – Ma and Shiwen Liu (CHN). Xu is on a nice winning streak, having won the Japan and Korean Opens in June and last week in Busan (KOR).
Look for results here.
