The WTT Doha Men's Finals will kick off on January 3, 2024 with the 1/8 finals. World No. 1 Fan Zhendong played a very difficult game against Darko Joczyk in the first round, especially in the fourth game, where he missed a match point in a row, and a crucial timeout almost buried the game. Fortunately, Fan Zhendong withstood the pressure and defeated Joczyk with an aggregate score of 3-2, advancing to the quarterfinals without danger, and will next face Aruna, the first brother in Africa.
Fan Zhendong 3-2 Darko Joczyk【7-11;11-7;11-7;17-19;11-8】
Fan Zhendong is ranked No. 1 in the world and has won 32 international titles in his career, including two World Championships men's singles titles. However, Fan Zhendong has yet to reach the Grand Slam and missed out on the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Fan Zhendong is currently far ahead of the Olympic selection standings, and it should not be a problem to participate in the Paris Olympics. Fan Zhendong is now 26 years old and in his prime of play, and it is important to seize the opportunity at Paris 2024.
Darko Joczyk, currently ranked 14th in the world from Slovenia, is 25 years old and Fan Zhendong is not much different, and the two are contemporaries. Joczyk has been playing in table tennis for many years, winning three international titles and is also an attacking player with a right-handed racket.
Venue: Lusail Stadium, Doha, Qatar
Head-to-head record: Fan and Joczyk have met twice in singles, the first of which was at the 2019 Austrian Open, where Fan swept away 4-0. The second conversation was at the 2022 Macau Championships, when Fan Zhendong won 3-0. Now the two sides are in their third meeting.
Game recap
In the opening game, Joczyk scored first and continued to make gains to rewrite the score to 5-1, and then Fan Zhendong withstood the backhand impact and chased three points in a row to 4-5. After that, the two sides alternated scores, and Joczyk led to 7-6, and then Joczyk scored two points in a row to 9-6, and Fan Zhendong seized the opportunity to recover one point. Joczyk then grabbed the crucial point to take the game point at 10-7, and then Fan Zhendong made a mistake and lost the point, and Joczyk won the first game 11-7.
In the second game, the two sides went back and forth, scoring alternately to 3 draws, and then Fan Zhendong made a mistake to send points, and Joczyk adjusted the edge ball to take the lead to 5-3. After that, Fan Zhendong decisively rushed to chase 5 draws, and took advantage of the situation to continue to suppress, overtaking the score 8-6. After that, Joczyk recovered 1 point, and Fan Zhendong suppressed strongly at the critical moment, won the game point 10-7, and won the second game directly at 11-7, thus bringing the total score to a 1-1 draw.
In the third game, Joczyk led 2-0, Fan Zhendong stabilized his position and scored three points in a row to overtake, and then Joczyk seized the service opportunity, and Fan Zhendong also grasped the service opportunity, rewriting the score to a 6-4 lead. After that, Joczyk stuck to the score to 6-7, and Fan Zhendong decisively grabbed the forehand at the critical moment, thus rewriting the score to 9-6, and then Fan Zhendong withstood the pressure and won the game point again 10-7, and still won 11-7.
In the fourth game, Joczyk fought at full speed and scored 3 points in a row to take the lead, and then Fan Zhendong was not used to it, and made a decisive and quick shot to chase 3 draws. After that, the two sides faced off to 6 draws, and then formed a multi-shot pair to pull Fan Zhendong to resist, so Fan Zhendong overtook the score 7-6. Joczyk paused slowly, Fan Zhendong still made a firm shot, so the lead reached 9-6, and then Joczyk chased two points in a row, and Fan Zhendong won the match point at 10-8.
After that, Joczyk fought decisively, chasing points to 10 draws in a row, and then held Fan Zhendong's key offensive mistakes in multiple shots, but fortunately withstood the pressure and pulled it to 11 draws. The two sides were tied at 16 in a row, and the game was extremely stalemate, and then Fan Zhendong took a 17-16 lead before taking a timeout, and then lost three points in a row to miss a good game, and Joczyk won 19-17.
In the deciding game, Fan Zhendong took a 3-1 lead, and Joczyk chased it to 3 draws, and then Joczyk continued to attack fiercely, rewriting the score to a 6-4 lead. After that, Fan Zhendong withstood the pressure and overtook the score 9-7, and then Fan Zhendong scored to get the match point again 10-8. Then he scored and ended the game 11-8.