Notícia

THIAGO SETS THE BRAZILIAN CROWD ALIGHT IN BH

Por CBTM

They were on their feet in adulation as they applauded Thiago Monteiro from all four corners of the Minas Tennis Club in Belo Horizonte, the venue for the Liebherr Brazilian Open. He had beaten the number four seed, Japan's superb Koji Matsushita in seven gruelling games encounter.

Early in the afternoon of Saturday 14th April 2007, to the unbridled delight of the Brazilian fans, Thiago Monteiro won 3-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7.

Saluted Crowd
In return Thiago Monteiro saluted the crowd, he applauded them and Koji Matsushita to his eternal credit, congratulated his adversary and walked away, the true sportsman, leaving Thiago Monteiro to enjoy his moment of triumph.

Return to Form
It was for Thiago Monteiro a most welcome return to form, at the Latin American Championships two weeks earlier, in Guarulhos, he had under performed; he had been well below his best.

Against Koji Matsushita he gave one his best ever performances.

Not Good
"I didn't feel good at the Latin American Championships", said Thiago Monteiro. "I had little confidence but last week in training I felt good and how well I did today depended on my approach to the match, it depended on my attitude."

In Belo Horizonte, the attitude was right. He was totally focused on the task in hand and he came through bathed in smiles.

More Positive
"Here at the Liebherr Brazilian Open I've been more positive and more aggressive than I was at the Latin American Championships and so far it's paid off", explained Thiago Monteiro who accepted that at the start of the match against Koji Matsushita he had been too aggressive.

He lost the first game easily, he wasn't at the races.

Win Quickly
"Against defenders I like to try to end the points quickly, I like to play a very strong first attack but against Koji I made a lot of errors", he said. "From the second game onwards I was more patient, I worked harder for the points and the change in tactics worked."

Seventh Game
It was the classic table tennis match, the attacker versus the defender with Koji Matsushita delighting the crowd with his immensely skilful defensive play and in the seventh game it looked as though he would win.

"Looks like I'll be playing Koji next", said Dimitrij Ovtcharov, as he saw the score line in the seventh game move from 6-2 to 7-4 in favour of the Japanese player.

Error Free
However, from 7-4 onwards Thiago Monteiro played error free; Koji Matsushita never won another point, the Brazilian won seven in a row.

At the first opportunity he converted the match point, then jumped for joy, waved his fists in the air and danced his own unique version of the samba!

It was the first time he had ever beaten Koji Matsushita and what a time to accomplish the feat.

Quarter-Finalists
The win means that Thiago Monteiro joins Singapore's Gao Ning, Hong Kong's Tang Peng and Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the top of the draw at bthe the quarter-final stage whilst in the lower half of the draw, the four players are: Germany's Jörg Rosskopf, Japan's Kan Yo, plus the Swedes Pär Gerell and Jens Lundqvist.

In round three Jörg Rosskopf beat Canada's Tang Peng, Kan Yo overcame Germany's Patrick Baum, Pär Gerell accounted for Portugal's João Monteiro and Jens Lundqvist halted the progress of Tiago Apolónia.

 

ITTF - Ian Marshall