Paul Drinkhall faced Vladimir Samsonov and Joo Sae-hyuk in his latest round of T2 APAC fixtures.
Watch the matches below.
Drinkhall vs Samsonov
There was plenty to think about after this match, where Boll should have gone away with a handsome win, but saw himself somewhat out-smarted by Drinkhall, who would be happy with losing by just 2-3.
Boll shaded a tight first set 11-10, then was more convincing in the second, winning 11-9.
But the third set saw Drinkhall coming into his own, varying his serves to good effect and managing to pull back a set 11-10.
Boll was in no mood to be charitable as took the next game 11-5, leaving seven seconds on the clock and necessitating the Kill Zone game.
With Team Rossi in desperate need set wins to close the gap on their rivals, Drinkhall’s fight back to win the fifth set 5-4 will be savoured by the team.
Boll commented:
I think I can be satisfied but Paul played very clever.
I was sweating a lot and needed more time to dry myself and started to lose focus and he took full advantage of that.
Mentally I was quite good but it’s stressful playing on a tight clock and you can feel yourself under pressure.
Drinkhall vs Joo S.H
Joo dug deep into his bag of tricks to subdue Drinkhall for a second time in the tournament, again a 3-2 win over the Englishman, and again decided by a Kill Zone game.
A thoroughly entertaining match that ebbed and flowed, saw Drinkhall take the first set to the Korean with a typical late flourish 11-9.
Joo stormed back in the second, without relinquishing a mid-game lead, to win 11-7.
In the third Joo eased off and Drinkhall built on a mid-game advantage to take the set 11-6.
Joo turned up his aggression in the fourth to build an 8-2 lead, but Drinkhall fought back to 10-9 before winning 11-9.
Heeding his captain’s advice to stay aggressive, Joo duly delivered in the Kill Zone, going 3-0 up before winning 5-2.
Joo commented:
Drinkhall is a difficult opponent for me as he knows how to play against defensive players.
It doesn’t surprise me that both our matches so far has been settled by the Kill Zone.
Standings
Drinkhall’s team, managed by German legend Jorg Rosskopf, is currently sat in last position, with -20 games difference.
In the Individual standings, Drinkhall finds himself in twelfth place, winning 23 games in 12 matches.
The T2 APAC competition features some of the world’s best players, male and female, representing four different teams fighting for a share of the $1. 5million prize fund.
The matches are played to a timed format, with a number of unusual variations listed below.
