Darko Jorgić. Photo: Nik Erik Neubauer
Darko Jorgić will play in both finals in Skopje
The best Slovenian table tennis player Darko Jorgić will play in both finals at the tournament in Skopje. First, he qualified for the final match together with Deni Kožul in the doubles game, and then he won the semifinal match in the singles competition with 3:2, after he was better than the Swede Anton Kallberg, who was always unfavorable for him, after a reversal.
Darko Jorgić always had uncertain and even matches with the 34th player in the world. Before the match in Skopje, if the matches of the German league are not taken into account, the Slovene led 4:3 in victories in head-to-head matches in the member competition – the Swede eliminated him in the last European championship – now he has increased this ratio in his favor.
A tense duel
The showdown was similar to their previous ones. The Swede already led 2:1 in the sets, and then Hrastničan won an even fourth set. The result of the set was 13:11, before that the Slovenian led with 10:8 and 11:10. In this tournament, Jorgić plays perfectly in the end of sets, he won practically everything, which gives him confidence and energy to continue the fight. This was also the case in the decisive set, which he won 11:7, but until the result was 6:6, the rivals were even.
Jorgić already had a fairly tense match in the midday quarterfinals. Hrastničan, last year’s semi-finalist of this tournament, started the match badly, losing the first set, in which he won six points. He didn’t do well in the second either. He led 7:3, but then allowed his rival to win seven consecutive points and win three final balls. But then the Slovenian won five points in a row and won the set with 12:10.
This provided him with a psychological advantage, which he was able to use in the third, defeating his rival 11:7. He kept his composure even in the tied fourth set, after losing two final balls after a 10:8 lead, then two more, but he still used the fifth to win 14:12 and 3:1.
The third final in the WTT tournaments
For Jorgić, this will be the third final in WTT tournaments. On the first day of 2022, he lost to a Japanese in Nova Gorica Hiroto Shinozukiwho was also a possible rival in this year’s final, but lost to the American in the semi-final with 2:3 Kanak Jhajwho also eliminated Kožula in the first round. Zasavec was more successful just under two years ago, when after the final victory over his club colleague the German Patrick Franziska celebrated his first won WTT series tournament in Lima.
Jorgić will also play in the doubles final in North Macedonia. Together with Deni Kožul have taken another step forward since last year, in the semi-finals, where their journey ended last year, they beat the French 3:1 Flavien Coton and Simon Gauzy. Their rivals in the final will be South Koreans Lim Yonghoon and Oh Jungsung.
