Dang Qiu's dad warned him. Qiu Jianxin, a former Chinese national team member, was an ace penholder. When he settled in Germany and started a family, he encouraged his son Dang to embrace the shakehand grip like most young international players. The player-turned-coach wanted his son to enjoy the advantages of a strong backhand offense which he himself lacked. For young Dang, however, even stronger than the need to fit in was the calling to follow in his father's footsteps. Flash forward to Düsseldorf, Germany. Dang Qiu, now 23, has been a fixture of the Düsseldorf Masters tournament series. There has been no official international competition since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the Düsseldorf Masters, however, Qiu and a handful of other world-class German league players have managed to stay sharp. The world #52 Dang Qiu had previously won Masters VII, besting Sweden's Anton Källberg in the final. Qiu led in the points standings for most of the summer until Benedikt Duda won his second title last week. Still, Qiu easily qualified for the playoffs, the eleventh installment of the tournament series held this weekend. Germany's "Big Three" of Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska have all participated in the summer-long series and were expected to play in the season finale. Fate would intervene, however, as fate is wont to do. Boll fell ill, Ovtcharov was called to play for his club in Russia, and Franziska was upset in the quarterfinals by Gerrit Engemann. This left the the tournament wide open. Those who walked through the open door into the finals were Dang Qiu and his fellow German Steffen Mengel, a 31-year-old veteran who was listed at world #25 only five years ago. He proved that he is still dangerous at world #140 when he beat former Düsseldorf Masters champion Anton Källberg in the semis. In the final, however, Dang Qiu reasserted his control of the tournament which he has made his home-away-from-home this summer. His crisp footwork setting up loop kills from both wings. He is especially proficient in the modern reverse penhold backhand, a shot seldom seen during his father's heyday. Despite losing focus in the fourth, Qiu was utterly dominant in claiming the season-culminating championship, (11-6, 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4). "I played quite well today and it is a nice fact that I won the Final tournament," said Qiu. "It's great that we had the chance to play a competition series with the Düsseldorf Masters in [COVID-19] times." Despite his disappointment, Steffen Mengel graciously tipped his cap to Qiu. "Dang is in super form and played really well today," said Mengel. "After my good semi-final, I was hoping to make the final more open. He deserved to win." This concludes the men's portion of the tournament. The sixth installment of the Düsseldorf Masters was a women-only event won by defensive master Han Ying. She will look to defend her title at the women's grand finals next weekend. One hopes that Danq Qiu's father, Qiu Jianxin, is flattered that his talented son does as he does, not as he says.

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