Top-seeded Japanese Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani lived to their names here Sunday, beating Chinese newly partnered Xu Xin and Zhang Jike for the men's doubles title at the 330,000 U.S. dollars China Open.
The leading duo to Japanese men's table tennis came back from 1-2 down to win over Xu and Zhang 12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9.
"It's a welcome victory though not an easy one for us," said Kishikawa after winning his first men's doubles title with Mizutani in an ITTF Pro Tour ITTF Pro Tour tournament. "I could feel my nerve from the very beginning of the final, since it's a pair from China at the other end of the table. But I managed to tune myself up and played an in-style game."
Japan's Kishikawa Seiya (R) and Mizutani Jun celebrate their victory during the men's doubles final against China's Xu Xin and Zhang Jike at the ITTF China Open table tennis tournament in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, June 7, 2009. The Japanese pair claimed the title after beating the Chinese pair by 4-2. (Xinhua/Yang Lei) The Japanese duo, who shocked in Friday's first round the hosts' golden pairing of Olympic title holder Ma Lin and three-time world champion Wang Liqin in straight sets, won a bronze medal in the men's doubles for host Japan at the world championships in Yokohama a month ago, losing only to China's Xu Xin and Ma Long in the semifinals.
Mizutani reckoned the shift of partner for Xu Xin having made the difference.
"We've played a much tougher match in Yokohama against Xu Xin and Ma Long," he said. "For today's game against Xu Xin and Zhang Jike, we found it easy to tell how the duo would react as Zhang seemed to have little special in techniques."
Xu himself, however, could not agree with his Japanese rivals. The teenage sensation of China said: "The only problem with the pairing of Zhang Jike and me is that we are just coming to play the men's doubles together, and have not yet fully adapted it."
"Zhang and Ma play different styles of table tennis. Zhang's more aggressive and Ma's stable. Both of them are very good players," he added.
Source: Xinhua
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