XINXIANG, China, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) — Chinese female paddlers demonstrated their dominance by taking up all semifinal berths at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Cup Finals here on Friday.
Wang Manyu registered the same score of 11-4 in three games to dispatch Mima Ito, adding to her victory over the Japanese ace in the final of the World Team Table Tennis Championships earlier in October.
“Every time when I play against Ito, I need to make full preparations and play at a high level. She is an opponent who deserves much respect,” said Wang.
Wang’s opponent in the semifinal will be Olympic champion Chen Meng, who rallied past compatriot Chen Xingtong 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.
Wang Yidi comfortably outclassed Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.
“She has shown her characteristics, so I tried to avoid getting into her rhythm, which was the key to my success today,” commented Wang Yidi.
World No. 1 Sun Yingsha overpowered Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.
“Ishikawa has good game reading ability. I was fully prepared for any difficulty ahead of this match,” Sun noted.
Fan Zhendong, men’s No. 1 in the world, suffered an early elimination in the tournament. Following a first-round bye, Fan fell to German Dimitrij Ovtcharov after full games in his first match in Xinxiang, central China’s Henan Province.
Fan came out of the gate strongly winning the first game 11-4, but found himself 1-2 down after three games. Despite his efforts forcing the deciding game by emerging victorious 11-7 in the fourth, top-ranked Fan conceded the decider 11-6 to crash out of contention.
Ovtcharov will next meet Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, who got past Timo Boll of Germany in straight games.
Fan’s teammates Ma Long and Wang Chuqin advanced to the semifinals.
Olympic gold medalist Ma shared the spoils with Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the first two games, before overcoming a 3-7 deficit in the third to pocket eight points in a row to win. However, a resilient Lin took the fourth game 11-8 to drag the match into a decider, where Ma regrouped and raced to a 5-0 lead en route to an 11-3 victory to secure his berth in the final four.
“I played well in the first and fifth games, while struggling a little bit in other games. Luckily I took the chance when I trailed in the third game,” admitted Grand Slam winner Ma.
In a match featuring two prodigies, Wang Chuqin got the better of Truls Moregard 11-8, 11-3, 15-13, following his semifinal victory over the Swedish opponent at the WTT Champions Macao last week.
Wang offered his compliments to Moregard after the match. “He has many advantages that we need to learn from, including his hitting touch, inspiration and game reading. He has his own rhythm, which makes it tough for you to follow during the match,” said Wang.
Ma and Wang will contend for the final spot on Saturday.