Gao Fangjie, second title win in two consecutive weeks, the INA international challenge followed the INA Masters Super100 . Good job, very encouraging sign she is on the come-back trail. But, I noticed something a bit concerning, that is, in the first of the two tournaments, she won convincingly without any trouble, sweeping all before her, but in the second tournament she was stretched by a couple of opponents , whom like her also participated in both tourneys, that stepped up their game a fair bit in attack and defense, especially in the semifinal against Natsuki Nidaira, then a little less so against Riko Gungj whom she beat for the second time in the two tournament finals. To be specific, she won most of her points in short rallies , averaging 25-shorts or so. But against opponents who could defend well and stretched the rallies to 30-points and above GFJ's inconsistency and inaccuracy in shotmaking showed as errors crept in , especially unforced errors. And it seemed to me, in such situations, she lost more points than she gained. My worry is that she is not by any means ready to challenge any of the top 10 women's singles yet, in particular when facing superb defenders or retrievers, distinctively Akane Yamaguchi being one she would definitely come a cropper against, not to mention An Se Young, her compatriot, Chen Yufei, and Nozomi Okuhara, or even her fellow junior teammate, Wang Zhiyi. In short, GFJ really have to work diligently on improving her consistency and cut down on unforced errors for ,as we all know, it's very hard or seldom the case that you can score outright winners with one or two attacking shots in any one rally. A strong attack has to be backed up by an equally strong defense to be successful and be counted among the top echelon of world-class players. For the time being, GFJ most certainly has to garner sufficient ranking points in order to qualify for the top tier events, namely Super 500/750/1000. There's still quite a long way for her to go as she is practically starting from scratch, having just completed only two tournaments after such a long injury layoff. Best of luck to her. Hope to see her progress fast enough to join the ranks of her established top-ranked colleagues, Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, Wang Zhiyi and, I may add, Han Yue, the sooner the better.
After watching her game, I must say she is better than Wang zhiyi , Han yue and Zhang yiman and she has powerful smash. I feel like she may overtake all these girls one day.
Her playing style is different with those typical defense reliant player. China has multi layered players, looks like they will return to dominate WS scene, back to past era?
Well, as I half expected, Gao Fangjie was fully tested by the top Viet WS, the up-and-comer, Nguyen Thuy Linh, who is the same age as her, 24. Not surprising GFJ lost, this being their very first meeting. On the whole, Nguyen TL played better than GFJ's Japanese opponents in the previous two tournaments, whether in attack or defence, and that put more pressure on GFJ to stay in the rallies, hence mistakes , both forced and unforced errors crept in. In fact, NTL was as proactive, if not more so , than GFJ, going on the offensive, injecting pace now and then and seizing the initiative as much as possible to minimize her tall attacking opponent from dictating the rallies, and it worked in G1 and the decider, not G2 which she lost while showing some signs of fatigue. GFJ's advantage over most of her opponents so far is her height and reach at 1.78m and her power smash, which she's able to employ to good effect - I won't say maximum effect yet as she hasn't faced any really strong top players to date. Maybe, NTL came better prepared than GFJ's earlier opponents , having got wind of her back-to-back title wins in Indonesia, and probably studied her game with her coaches, one of whom looked Indonesian to me. Personally, I'm not too worried about this defeat of GFJ's; after all, it's her third consecutive tournaments in an as many weeks, the first two going the full distance, which she won. And in this third event in the quarterfinals, she didn't show much fatigue, which is a good indication her fitness level is not bad. It's still early days yet for GFJ to reach her former best pre-injury. On a positive note, such a defeat might do her more good than harm as it exposed her current weaknesses, vulnerabilities and shortcomings so that she knows what to work on and how much harder. I believe, as long as she has the self- motivation, drive and determination to make a successful comeback coupled with the right attitude on and off court, such as self-discipline and, most important, mental strength, it will certainly not be in vain. Time will tell.
Yes, she might have been affected by some line calls but not sure if it affected the match that much. One arguable call on the third set towards the end with NTL leading, may have affected GFJ but still, it was herself that allowed the opponent to be in the leading position. I believe GFJ was quite confident to overcome her opponent, I feel she was more skilled than her opponent, did move Ngyuen around well but could not finish the rallies due to her own mistakes or by NTL determination. This is a very good experience/lesson for her.
I just watched her games and I'm glad to see her back. Do you know if she will participate in the next Malaysia International Challenge ?
