Timo Boll and Darko Jorgic with successes at international tournaments
Timo Boll is constantly building his own legend. At the 80,000 dollar WTT Contender in Doha, the Düsseldorf native added another historic success to his long and unique career and won his first title in the young WTT tournament series with a wildcard. A TTBL player also triumphed at the Europe Top 16 in Montreux. Defending champion Darko Jorgic extended his winning streak and took the title for the third time in a row.
In a dramatic and high-class final, 42-year-old Timo Boll defeated world number eleven Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan) 11:8 in the seventh and deciding set at the WTT Contender in Doha. The triumph catapults the two-time World Cup winner from 182nd in the world back into the top 50.
Timo Boll prevailed in the duel with extraordinary elegance and creativity against pure power and speed. After seven sets, the German's result was 8:11, 11:9, 11:6, 6:11, 8:11, 11:9 and 11:8 against Tomokazu Harimoto, who was the clear favourite on paper going into the final. However, Timo Boll's winning streak in Doha had already been more than impressive before the comparison with the 20-year-old mixed Olympic champion from Tokyo: The 22-year-old Boll played at absolute world-class level from the first round onwards in his victories over the world numbers seven (Lin Yun-Ju, Taiwan), twelve (Jang Woojin, South Korea), 26 (Lee Sang Su, South Korea) and 53 (Noshad Alamiyan, Iran). After his success in the final, the winner was deeply moved: "The world rankings and all the statistics don't interest me at the moment. I'm very grateful for the feeling of winning the tournament once again. I still can't believe it myself."
"Timo is simply incredible. He is a phenomenon. When he lost early at the Star Contender at the same venue last week, he was naturally a bit down. Now he's come back like a phoenix from the ashes and will be number 43 in the world again next week. Only the really great athletes manage something like this," said a delighted men's national coach Jörg Roßkopf.
The well-deserved reward for the former world number one, who was knocked out of the top 20 by a long-term shoulder injury in the summer of 2023, includes prize money for the winner as well as 400 world ranking points, which catapult him far up the not always meaningful rankings of the world federation. Boll, who was still listed in 182nd place in the rankings before the start of this week's tournament following his long injury in 2023, is expected to climb to 43rd place when the next world rankings are published next Tuesday.
Darko Jorgic with a hat-trick of titles at the Europe Top 16
Darko Jorgic continued his streak at the Europe Top 16 in Montreux and won the title for the third time in a row. In the final, the defending champion faced Sweden's Truls Möregårdh, who had recommended himself for the final with a 4:1 victory over Alexis Lebrun. Meanwhile, the Slovenian had literally outclassed Qiu's conqueror Marcos Freitas 4:0 in the semi-final.
As in 2022, Darko Jorgic defeated Sweden's Truls Möregårdh in the final, who played anything but badly but was unable to find a way to beat the outstanding Slovenian. Möregårdh narrowly won the first set 11:9, but Jorgic was increasingly in control as the match progressed. He brought home the 4:1 victory without any problems and celebrated his third triumph in a row with the obligatory jump on the table.
"I was a bit nervous at the start. I was leading 4:1 at the start, but then Möregårdh had two lucky balls and that shook me up a bit. I found my focus again in the next game. I played "my" game. I was more aggressive in all segments, on the serve, on the return of serve and in the game. I didn't make any easy mistakes. I'm happy with my performance today," explained Darko Jorgic.
Darko Jorgic is the only player to win the trophy three times in the same city and the same hall.