@17teacmrocks Note that, continuous blocking against Ma Lin has actually been proved advantageous. For example at the WTTC 2009, Matsudaira was giving Ma Lin heaps of trouble because he blocked anything that came to him.
oh is getting better. he's increased his offensive play, not just relying on control and counters. he'll be more dangerous since his technique is very good and he knows a lot of combos that "normal ppl" can't recover fast enough to return
furthermore, blocking against ma lin is stupid. he's one of the fastest players in the game and notorious for one shot kills. he is also a very tactical player and you're NOT going to beat him in terms of control. ppl have said chinese players can't lob like europeans but it is completely untrue. they just don't do it as often because their style of play is oriented towards close range fast attacks vs mid range controlled loops. ma lin has probably the best skill level short range at the table.
i disagree, kenta didnt take ma lin to 7 sets just cuz ma lin couldnt return serves... kenta was just blocking everything ma lin was throwing at him. watch the video of their game again ;D
@17teacmrock I don't think Oh is being stupid by blocking against Ma lin. That's his style and I think most players don't have much of a choice. As you said Ma Lin is one of the fastest players in the game. He beats them to the attack.
i was there in person buddy. kenta was returning ma's serve well as well. that's y there wasnt many chances for ma to third ball rip. but in the seventh game ma got few chances and took the match