Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun won the Women’s Singles title at the ITTF 2013 World Tour Spanish Open in Almeria on Sunday 20th January; occupying the second seeded position in the draw she accounted for the host nation’s Shen Yanfei, the top seed, at the final hurdle.

Shen Yanfei won in five games (11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6), the crucial stage in the contest no doubt being in the fourth game when the players stood level at 9-all.

Errors from Shen Yanfei meant that the next two points went to Jiang Huajun, the momentum of the contest had swung inexorably in favour of Hong Kong.

Seventh Final
It was the seventh time that Jiang Huajun had appeared in a Women’s Singles final on the ITTF World Tour and the victory made amends somewhat for the defeat she had suffered two years earlier at the hands of Japan’s Sayaka Hirano, when beaten in the final.

Overall, it was her fourth victory in the gold medal contest having in 2006 won in Kuwait and in 2007 succeeded in Chile and Korea.

Combination Rackets
Both players use combination rackets, short pimpled rubber on one side, reversed rubber on the other but they are very different.

The right handed Jiang Huajun uses the short pimples on the backhand, Shen Yanfei uses that surface on the forehand.

Controlled Top Spin Play
Undoubtedly, Jiang Huajun is famed for her powerful backhand.

Against Shen Yanfei the stroke proved effective but it was the controlled forehand topspin strokes that nullified the quick forehand attacks of Shen Yanfei that brought success.

Also, the tactic brought a somewhat surprise victory.

World Rankings
In addition to Shen Yanfei being the top seed and listed currently at no.8 on the Women’s World Rankings, as opposed to Jiang Huajun being the second seed and having fallen to no.21 on the global list, past meetings between the two stars have favoured the Spaniard.

Recent Convincing Win
Most recently, at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour German Open in November, Shen Yanfei won in four straight games in their semi-final duel; whilst in 2010 at the Volkswagen Cup in Braunshweig in 2010, she had prevailed in seven games in their quarter-final duel.

Furthermore, in 2006 at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals the Spaniard had won in six games when they had met in the open round.

One Win
Notably, of the four previous meetings prior to the duel in Almeria, Jiang Huajun had won just once; that was in 2008 in the second round of the Women’s Singles event at the Volkswagen China Open.

Impressive
On that occasion she succeeded in four straight games.

At the ITTF 2013 World Tour Spanish Open, the performance of Jiang Huajun was equally impressive; the title was gained in style, emphatic style.

Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo By: Pablo Rubio