Pro Tour
Drumbeat effected by Christian Süß

Christian Süß belongs to the big winners of the last week. Fist, his individual Olympic qualification and two weeks ago the German Team Championships title with Borussia Düsseldorf. But already in the second half of March, a strong drumbeat was effected by the andro star, which especially pleased men’s national coach Richard Prause: At the Qatar Open in Doha, Christian has beaten Olympic Champion Ryu Seung-Min! “ I was mentally in a good shape and I played a good match”, said Süß happy. “I think, this was one of the best matches, I have ever played at a Pro Tour tournament.”
Being no. 8 of the World Ranking, the South Korean was ranked 30 places better than Süß. But at the end the German won 4:1. His explication for this: “I went to this match without any pressure. Maybe this was the key for my success.”
At the drawing the 22-year-old has reacted very cool, when he heard about the estimated duel with WTTC bronze medal winner Ryu Seung Min:” I don’t think about an easy or difficult draw. Every match against a top player is already a win. One has not everyday the possibility to play against a player from the Top10 in the world and because of that one can learn so much in those matches”, he explained and mentioned his theme: “Basically, I see this match as a great chance for me.”
But Christian almost missed his chance in Doha. In his first match against the international rather second-rate Brazilian Gustavo Tsuboi, he was down 1:3 in sets, but after a race of catch up, Süß won in the last set 12:10.
“After the victory against Tsuboi, I felt free in my mind”, analysed Christian. And his following triumph against Olympic Champion Ryu gave him additional wings against Zhang Jike in the round of the last 16. But after another good performance the German had finally to congratulate the rising Chinese star for a 4:2 victory. After that there was no reason for Süß to regret his missed chance for the quarterfinal. “It was very important for me to check my level and to earn as much self-confidence as possible so short before the Olympic Qualification. I did, especially with the victory against Ryu.”
In Qatar, Süß became almost something like a bogey opponent for the Korean. Also in the double competition Süß and his Düsseldorfer club-mate Dimitrij Ovtcharov got the upper hand against Ryu and Yoon Jae Young and finally won 4:1.
In the following quarterfinal Süß and his partner were finally stopped by the Chinese world-class double Wang Liqin (World Champion) and Wang Hao (World Cup Winner) without winning any set.
Less reasons than Süß for being satisfied had to be announced for the two andro colleagues Wu Jiaduo and Elke Schall in Doha. After her last sixteen participation at the Kuwait Open one week before, Wu had to leave the tournament already in the first round after her defeat against South Korean Moon Hyun Jung by 1:4. Like Wu Jiaduo, also Elke Schall lost after a successful qualification in round No.1 against China’s Liu Shiwen.
In the double competition, the European Championships 3rd placed double Wu and Schall lost after winning the qualification to Kim Kyung and Park Mi Young from South Korea in the first round of the main draw.
But at the end of May the two andro players had a good reason to be happy at the Japan Open. With the German National team, Wu Jiaduo and Elke Schall have defeated the WTTC 3rd ranked team Hongkong very surprisingly 3:0. The two andro players generated a great double performance by beating Tie Yana/Lin Ling 3:2. Furthermore, Wu Jiaduo won 3:1 against Lau Sui Fei. (the third point for German Team was made by Zhenqi Barthel.)
Elke Schall convinced after many victories in the single competition, as well. Among others, Elke won against Rumania’s Elizabeta Samara 4:0 – before she lost in the main draw against No.3 world ranked player (Li Xiaoxia (China) 1:4.
Wu Jiaduo was very close to reach the quarterfinal against world ranked No.10 Kim Kyung Ah (South Korea). Due to the fact of a painful strain in her playing arm, Dudu had to fight even harder against one of the best defending players of the world. At the end, she lost razor-thin in the 7th set 9:11.

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