PRO-TOUR: Open du Chili (29/06 -> 03/07)

Voici le nom des 32 premières têtes de série:

1 SAIVE Jean-Michel - BEL
2 OH Sang Eun - KOR
3 SMIRNOV Alexei - RUS --> d'après ce que j'ai vu sur le site de l'ITTF, Alexei aurait décidé de se retirer du tournoi...
4 FRANZ Peter - GER
5 LEE Chul Seung - KOR
6 ERLANDSEN Geir - NOR
7 YOSHIDA Kaii - JPN
8 LEE Jung Woo - KOR
9 MONRAD Martin - DEN
10 KEINATH Thomas - GER
11 PAZSY Ferenc - HUN
12 MOLIN Magnus - SWE
13 YOON Jae Young - KOR
14 CABESTANY Cedric - FRA
15 FAZEKAS Peter - HUN
16 MOLDOVAN Istvan - NOR
17 HOYAMA Hugo - BRA
18 SEREDA Peter - SVK
19 PISTEJ Lubomir - SVK
20 CHOI Hyun Jin - KOR
21 GERELL Par - SWE
22 MONTEIRO Joao - POR
23 JOVER Sebastien - FRA
24 ZWICKL Daniel - HUN
25 FETH Stefan - GER
26 KIM Tae Hoon - KOR
27 AXELQVIST Johan - SWE
28 LEE Jin Kwon - KOR
29 CHO Eon Rae - KOR
30 KAMAL Achanta Sharath - IND
31 MORALES Augusto - CHI
32 SALAMANCA Juan - CHI

Jean-Mi est à nouveau tête de série n°1, pourvu que ça lui porte plus chance qu'à l'Open du Brésil.

ALLEZ JEAN-MI!

Jean-Mi rencontrera demain au premier tour un qualifié, avant de peut-être tomber sur le Coréen Cho Eon Rae.

L'adversaire de Jean-Mi au 1e tour est l'Indien Pathik Mehta. Le match se déroulera à 11h00, heure du Chili.

ALLEZ JEAN-MI!

Au premier tour, Jean-Mi a battu l'Indien Mehta 4-0 ( 11-3, 11-7, 11-3, 11-8 ) avant de se défaire au second du Coréen Cho 4-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3, 11-9).

Au troisième tour (18e de finale), c'est encore un Coréen qui l'attend, en la personne de Yoon Jae Young qu'il rencontrera aujourd'hui à 15h15 heure chilienne.

En 1/8e, Jean-Mi a battu Yoon Jae Young 4-2: 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8,8-11, 12-10.

En 1/4 de finale, il a développé un très bon niveau pour battre 4-0 ( 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 ) LEE Jung Woo, un autre Coréen.

Les réactions de Jean-Mi après sa victoire:
“I didn’t expect to play that well”, was the reaction of Jean-Michel SAIVE after his quarter-final victory against Korea’s LEE Jung Woo in the TMS Chile Open on Saturday 2nd July 2005.

LEE Jung Woo was certainly a man in form; two weeks earlier he had won the Men’s Singles event at the TMS Chinese Taipei Open and in securing that victory he had been very impressive. However, in Santiago, experienced counted and Jean-Michel SAIVE won 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10.

Control
“It was really tough but I received service well and I was pleased with the way I controlled the rallies”, said SAIVE. “I tried to return service as wide as possible, especially into his backhand and it was important that I was aggressive.” SAIVE was positive and as always revelled in the topspin exchanges. “You have to stop him playing those big bombs from his forehand”, continued the Belgian maestro. “It was a really hard draw to have to play him in the quarters, it couldn’t have been tougher.”

Watching LEE Jung Woo play at the Volkswagen Open Korea and at the TMS Chinese Taipei Open it surely won’t be long before he gains a place in the top twenty of the ITTF Men’s World Ranking list. However, SAIVE always relishes a challenge and having lost in the opening round in Brazil last week he was clearly pleased to have reached his allotted place in the penultimate round.

Last Week
“Last week I lost to Roko TOSIC, he played very well”, sighed SAIVE. “I was surprised, I had a chance to win the second game but I didn’t; if I’d have won that who knows what might have happened; anyway, this week I’m really pleased with how I’m playing, better than I expected.”

In the semi-finals SAIVE plays Germany’s Peter FRANZ the quarter-final round winner against Hungary’s Peter FAZEKAS whilst in the lower half of the draw Sweden’s Johan AXELQVIST meets Korea’s OH Sang Eun. At the quarter-final stage AXELQVIST beat Korea’s JO Ji Hoon whilst OH Sang Eun overcame Slovakia’s Peter SEREDA but was given a real fright by the young rising European star.
source: www.ittf.com

En demi-finale, Jean-Mi affronte l'Allemand Peter Franz

Le parcours de Jean-Mi à l'Open du Chili s'est arrêté en demi-finale contre l'Allemand Peter Franz, en cinq manches (9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11)

Une médaille en bronze, c'est pas si mal pour Jean-Mi?

oui, c'est sûr que c'est pas si mal, d'autant que Peter Franz a l'air très en forme actuellement!

De son côté, Jean-Mi engrange quelques points nécessaires en vue de la qualification pour la finale du Pro-Tour et ça lui aura fait une bonne préparation pour l'US Open...