Top seed falls, Shan Xiaona causes second round upset

Germany’s Shan Xiaona caused the biggest upset; Poland’s Natalia Partyka gave the most accomplished performance as play began in the second round of the Women’s Singles event at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open in Doha on the evening on Friday 24th February.

Both caused upsets, with Shan Xiaona taking pride of place.

Adopting her fast attacking pen-hold grip skills to good effect, staying close the table at all times, she beat China’s Zhu Yuling in five games (11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-7) minimising the amount of time available for the top seed to extol her top spin skills.

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“I think I played well against Zhu Yuling today, my receive of her serves was good. She was slower getting into the game as well and wasn’t playing her best level. Our last encounter ended with me losing three-four at the Japan Open last year, it was very close, it was a pity that I lost but that made me realise that I still have a chance.”

“To be frank, my goal was just to take two games off her. In the fifth game when I was leading 3-1, I was thinking of finishing the game quickly to win but I knew that game was crucial, if I lost that game, she could have easily come back to take the match. I think I’m really lucky to be able to win. I think generally for Chinese players, they have a lot of pressure to win when they come out to compete and that gives foreign players an advantage in setting a good mentality against them”, Shan Xiaona

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An outstanding performance by Shan Xiaona; her success somewhat overshadowed the efforts of Natalia Partyka on the adjacent table; she accounted for fellow qualifier, Korea’s Yang Haeun. However, there is a gap of over 50 places on the current Women’s World Ra