2009 Japan Open, Wakayama, JPN, Jun 11 - Jun 14

Looks like Japan is sending out the big guns! Not surprising of course... after all, this is on their home soil.

Where are the Chinese players?

The Chinese have to play in the Superleague; same for Feng Tianwei.

he is not seeded, also lee jung woo comeback to pro tours, but no ryu again 

Men's Doubles Seeded Players:

Name		Sex	Ranking	Partner		Update
1	KISHIKAWA Seiya   JPN	M	68	MIZUTANI Jun   JPN		5/26/2009 5:54:30 PM
2	MA Liang ^   SIN	M	125	YANG Zi   SIN		5/26/2009 5:54:46 PM
3	OVTCHAROV Dimitrij   GER	M	13	STEGER Bastian   GER		5/26/2009 5:55:01 PM
4	OH Sang Eun   KOR	M	14	YOON Jae Young   KOR		5/26/2009 5:55:16 PM
5	MONTEIRO Joao   POR	M	50	SMIRNOV Alexei   RUS		5/26/2009 5:55:36 PM
6	MATSUDAIRA Kenji   JPN	M	126	UEDA Jin   JPN		5/26/2009 5:57:23 PM
7	BAUM Patrick   GER	M	61	HIELSCHER Lars   GER		5/26/2009 5:57:55 PM
8	KIM Jung Hoon   KOR	M	39	LEE Jin Kwon   KOR		6/7/2009 10:37:43 PM

Women's Doubles Seeded Players:

Name		Sex	Ranking	Partner		Update
1	SUN Bei Bei   SIN	W	30	YU Meng Yu   SIN		5/26/2009 5:50:52 PM
2	DODEAN Daniela   ROU	W	33	SAMARA Elizabeta   ROU		5/26/2009 5:51:39 PM
3	FUKUHARA Ai   JPN	W	31	ISHIKAWA Kasumi   JPN		5/26/2009 5:52:06 PM
4	PARK Mi Young   KOR	W	20	SEO Hyo Won   KOR		5/26/2009 5:52:29 PM
5	HIRANO Sayaka   JPN	W	25	HIURA Reiko   JPN		5/26/2009 5:52:49 PM
6	LEE Eun Hee   KOR	W	40	PARK Young Sook   KOR		5/26/2009 5:53:14 PM
7	KIM Jung Hyun   KOR	W	104	SEOK Ha Jung   KOR		5/26/2009 5:53:40 PM
8	FUJINUMA Ai   JPN	W	69	TASEI Mikie   JPN		5/26/2009 5:54:05 PM

both Timo and Samsonov keep on skipping tournaments. Perhaps Timo is still not at 100% but Vladi is right there in the neighborhood and he still wouldn't play Japan Open... strange.

No Kreanga, Maze, Persson, Primorac, Suss.. too bad

The players also have obligations in their leagues, and sometimes they just need a break... Ryu had surgery on his ankle, I think. Boll is just back from injury and had to play in the German league finals, which conflicted with the China Open; and what's the point for him to fly over just for the Japan Open if the Chinese aren't there? For Ovtcharov on the other hand, that's an opportunity to get some bonus points and maybe even a ProTour win.

I'm surprised at Samsonov though since he's in Asia already and the Spanish league should be over.

Some other non-Chinese Asians also have to play Superleague: Kim Kyung Ah, Tie Yana, Cheung Yuk...

JimT wrote: both Timo and Samsonov keep on skipping tournaments. Perhaps Timo is still not at 100% but Vladi is right there in the neighborhood and he still wouldn't play Japan Open... strange. No Kreanga, Maze, Persson, Primorac, Suss.. too bad

i, too, am curious about what's going on with vladi.  he pulled out of the belarus open a few weeks back, which, on paper at least, should have been an easy win and an easy chance to pick up bonus points.

he goes and plays the china vs. the world event and then doesn't play the japan open, where, again, he would be the top seed and would have a good chance to pick up bonus points.

so, where is he going to play next--he's gonna go all the way to africa to play the MOROCCAN OPEN, which is next month.  and there he will be one of only 2 players in the top-100!!

it just doesn't add up in my book...

Wally must be a big star in Japan, no wonder he traveled to the tournament:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbAazWxWXkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNBvyQ8EAFw

takaaki wrote: i, too, am curious about what's going on with vladi.  he pulled out of the belarus open a few weeks back, which, on paper at least, should have been an easy win and an easy chance to pick up bonus points. he goes and plays the china vs. the world event and then doesn't play the japan open, where, again, he would be the top seed and would have a good chance to pick up bonus points. so, where is he going to play next--he's gonna go all the way to africa to play the MOROCCAN OPEN, which is next month.  and there he will be one of only 2 players in the top-100!! it just doesn't add up in my book...

I wonder if they pay him more..

well, when he was playing for charleroi, they lived there. and i think a heard that, at least at one time, they were living in england.

anyhow, i, too, can't imagine they would have moved to spain in the past year and now to russia (or a hop, skip and a jump away to belarus).

actually, he may have pulled out of the belarus open to play the MASTERS event (higher prize money?) in england which was around the same time.  surprisingly so, i don't recall seeing any mention of that event here on the forum.  he (and persson) played some great matches with england's paul drinkhall, who has really improved in the past year.  there are a few vids from the event posted on youtube.

Any updates on the Japan Open?

y'know, i was just looking at the rankings and it looks to me like, if ovtcharov can somehow win this event and beat joo in the process, he'll end up in the top-10 next month.  now that would be huge for german TT--2 germans in the top-10!  now when was the last time that happened??

Mizutani-Smirnov is so amazing!

please i will be very thankful if anybody upload UEDA Jin vs. OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
UEDA is realy good - he is only junior (13. rank!)...