MAGDEBURG, Germany, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese men's pair Fan Zhendong/Zhou Yu and women's duo Ding Ning/Sun Yingsha were outplayed respectively in the quarterfinals and semifinals here on Friday at ITTF Platinum German Open.
Fan/Zhou could not handle the speed of the South Korean duo Lee Sangsu/Jeoung Youngsik who won 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 over the top seeds. Despite losing the first game, Lee/Jeoung stuck to their strategy and found their feet to attack the Chinese pair with wide shots and a good defense.
However, Lee and Jeoung won't be present in Saturday's final after losing out to Cho Daeseong/Jang Woojin 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-3 in an all-South Korean semifinal encounter.
Lin Gaoyuan/ Ma Long swept the Belgian pair Martin Allegro/Florent Lambiet 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 in the quarterfinal before they came close to a penultimate round exit, edging Poland's Jakub Dyjas and Belgium's Cedric Nuytinck in a five-game thriller 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 6-11, 11-6.
In the women's doubles, China's Chen Meng/Wang Manyu was in a rush against Lee Ho Ching/Soo Wai Yam Minnie from Hong Kong, China, in the quarterfinal, seeing off the challenge with 17 minutes' straight win (11-6, 11-5, 11-2).
The No. 3 seed Ding Ning/Sun Yingsha beat Singapore's Lin Ye/Yu Mengyu in a similarly swift 3-0 win (11-5, 11-9, 11-7) in the quarterfinal but lost the semifinal to Japan's Miu Hirano/Kasumi Ishikawa who kept the composure to secure a 3-1 comeback victory 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10.
Awaiting the Japanese pair in the final is another Chinese duo, top seeds Chen Meng/Wang Manyu who also came through a four-game win against the host nation's Nina Mittelham/Petrissa Solja 11-4, 7-11, 15-13, 11-4.
The Chinese mixed duo Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen cruised past Ho Kwan Kit/Lee Ho Ching from Hong Kong, China, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 in 19 minutes in the quarterfinal.
Top seed Xu/Liu took all five games to see off local favorites Patrick Franziska/Petrissa Solja 11-5, 10-12, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5 in the semifinal. The Chinese pair will face off with Japan's Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito in the final on Sunday.
"It's a tough game today. This is the home court for the German pair. They're hungry for victories. Patrick has very strong attacks," said Liu, "we had to calm down when it came to the fifth game and it's really a challenge for us."
Xu told Xinhua they had good preparation for the aggressive attacks from Franziska who kept high quality pressure. "I should have been more determined and stronger to snatch points from Petrissa side."
