(by Steve Hopkins)
The 10th and final men’s Masters event concluded over the weekend.  The winner, Germany’s Dan Qiu, his second series title.

This week, the four seeded players were Franziska, Duda, Assar, and Qiu.  Unlike many of the past events, play did not proceed as expected.  The top three seeds were all eliminated in Quarterfinal upsets: Franziska lost to Gerrit Engemann 4-3, Assar was dominated by Steffan Mengel to the extent that he never scored more than 5 points in a game, and Duda lost a close one to Anton Kallberg.  This left Qiu as the highest seed, and when Steffen Mengel upset Anton Kallberg in the Semis, the Final was set.

The young, penhold-playing German played a variety of soft controlled blocks and blistering flat attacks.  Qiu was in control from the beginning against Mengel, cruising to an easy win 4-1.  This was Qiu’s second win.  Duda also won twice, and Ovtcharov won three times.  But Qiu has been the most consistent player throughout – with solid showings in nearly every Series event.  As the goal of the Series was to accumulate points, Qiu’s win today also secured his first place finish in the Series.  The Dusseldorf XI champion is Dang Qiu and the Dusseldorf Masters Series Champion is also Dang Qiu.

The Dusseldorf Masters series have been held since mid-June.  This is the eleventh event overall (ten were men’s events and 1 was a female event).

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