Sweden’s Matilda Ekholm and Hungary’s Georgina Pota won the women’s doubles title in the World Tour India Open table tennis at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Sunday.
Matilda and Georgina, seeded second, upset top seeds from Hong Kong, Hoi Kem Doo and Ho Ching Lee, 9-11, 11-3, 5-11, 14-12, 11-8. The men’s doubles title was won by World No 2 Japanese pair of Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima, seeded 12th here, who rallied to beat the sixth-seeded German pair of Ruwen Filus and Ricardo Walther 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.
Down 1-2, Maitlda and Georgina quickly changed tactics to level in a protracted fourth game. They then caught up at 8-8 in the final game, and reeled three points to win the title.
In a keenly fought contest the young Japanese pair made errors in the opening game to fall behind. They, however, were back to their attacking best in the next game, standing out with their racquet speed, to stop the German march.
The Indian campaign in the tournament got over on Saturday evening with the highest ranked the World No 62, Sharath Kamal going down to Japan’s 13-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto in the men’s singles semifinals.
Sharath, who was stretched to seven games by Englishman Paul Drinkhall in the quarterfinals earlier in the day, went down 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 9-11.
Harimoto, the junior world champion, kept Sharath in a bind with his fast paced, attacking returns and serve. The 34-year-old Indian had to pull out all his experience against the diminutive prodigy, who was superb with his movement around the table. The Indian, with his lethal forehand frequently misfiring, was often left to do the catching up job but managed to level at 2-2. However, a service error by him at 9-10 in the fifth game handed Japanese the 3-2 lead.
Fighting for survival in the sixth game, Sharath twice conceded the lead before Harimoto took over and let out a roar after the Indian’s forehand sailed long.
Top seed and World No 5 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, too, reached the men’s singles final, beating Japan’s Koki Niwa 8-11, 11-2, 9-11, 12-10, 14-16, 11-2, 11-8.
Results: Finals: Men’s doubles: 12-Masataka Morizono/ Yuya Oshima (Jap) bt 6-Ruwen Filus/ Ricardo Walther (Ger) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.
Women's doubles: 2-Matilda Ekholm (Swe)/ Georgina Pota (Hung) bt 1- Hoi Kem Doo/ Ho Ching Lee(Hkg) 9-11, 11-3, 5-11, 14-12, 11-8
