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Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu was the player to cause the major surprise in the Preliminary Round of the Men’s Singles event at the GAC GROUP ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open in Budapest on Wednesday 18th January 2012.
Listed at no.206 on the current Men’s World Rankings, the 22 year old overcame Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An, a player of pedigree, a player with a record of success.
Chen Chien-An won the Boys' Singles title at the 2009 World Junior Championships in Madrid and in 2011 secured Under 21 Men's Singles titles on the ITTF Pro Tour.
Presently he stands at no.82 on the Men's World Rankings.
Worthy Adversary
Ovidiu Ionescu, who in recent years has proved a most worthy competitor in Under 21 Men’s Singles events on the ITTF Pro Tour, rose to the challenge to record a six games victory (11-8, 1-11, 14-12, 11-7, 8-11, 14-12).
Lost Three Times Before
“I have lost to him three times in the past; therefore I know him well”, said Ovidiu Ionescu. “He is very good serving short and very good with the short game, so I tried to keep the game open, I was comfortable in the rallies.
Sixth Time
It is only the sixth time in his career that Ovidiu Ionescu has progressed to the main draw at a major open international tournament.
In 2009 he succeeded in Qatar, in 2010 in Slovenia, Kuwait and New Delhi, whilst in 2011 he progressed through the first stage of proceedings in England.
Mission Accomplished
However, first round exits have been the norm, thus progress through the group stage and preliminary round is very much mission accomplished.
“I have reached my goal”, concluded Ovidiu Ionescu. “I have reached the Main Draw, tomorrow I can play without pressure.”
Cuban Hero Falls
An upset and it was the end of the road for the young man who had caused the biggest upset on the opening day coming to a conclusion.
Cuba’s Jorge Campos who had sensationally accounted for Korea’s Jung Young Sik on the opening day of action met his match. He was beaten in six games (9-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 13-11, 11-9) by the Czech Republic’s Antonin Gavlas.
Austrian Family in Form
Otherwise, matters went very much according to plan with an Austrian family have cause to celebrate; both Daniel and Dominik Habesohn emerged victorious.
Daniel beat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Tung (11-9, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8) before Dominik accounted for Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson (11-6, 11-8, 11-3, 11-9).
Source: http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=26620&Competition_ID=2104&
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