The German national table tennis player Patrick Franziska lost the Grand Smash final in Saudi Arabia. The 31-year-old from 1. FC Saarbrücken lost to world number one Wang Chuqin from China on Saturday in Jeddah in 2:4 sets.
“Of course I’m a little sad right now. But I also have to acknowledge that Wang Chuqin played almost flawlessly today and deserved to win,” said Franziska, who leaves Saudi Arabia with his head held high: “To have reached the final in such a well-fielded tournament with all the top players is simply incredible. It’s the biggest success of my career so far.”
On the way to the final, the German Olympic substitute beat, among others, world champion Fan Zhendong from China and European champion Dang Qiu from Germany. Franziska was the first non-Chinese to reach the final of one of the new Grand Smash tournaments. For this he received $33,050 in prize money. In the new world rankings, the five-time European team champion will be in the top 10 for the first time in his career.
Against the highly favored Wang, Franziska couldn’t find his game at the beginning and had largely no chance in the first three sets (2:11, 7:11, 5:11). The 16th in the world rankings then found the match better, securing sets four (11:8) and five (12:10). In the sixth round, World Cup runner-up Wang decided the match with 11:6.
The Grand Smash tournaments in table tennis were introduced in 2021, modeled on the Grand Slams in tennis. So far there are only three locations instead of the planned four: Singapore, Jeddah and, for the first time in September, Beijing.
