LJUBLJANA, July 7 (Xinhua) — China’s Olympic champion Ma Long suffered a stunning exit to thirteenth seed Zhou Qihao on Friday within the males’s singles spherical of 16 at WTT Star Contender Ljubljana.
Looking ahead to his first males’s singles title since successful gold on the Tokyo Olympics, Ma opened his marketing campaign with a crushing 3-0 win over Danish participant Anders Lind on Thursday.
However, the “Dragon” was denied by the world No. 24 Zhou who delivered a implausible play of their first-ever worldwide conflict. Zhou celebrates the large win over his iconic compatriot 4-11, 11-6, 2-11, 11-5, 11-8.
Ma began the match brightly, dictating the tempo of play along with his scientific assault to race into an early lead. Despite dropping the second sport, there was little to recommend an upset could possibly be on the playing cards as Ma instantly restored his benefit with a commanding win within the third sport.
Needing yet another sport to finish the job, Ma regarded nicely on the right track to guide himself a ticket to the quarterfinals. But the tide quickly started to show as Zhou performed a extra aggressive, higher-risk sport, and the shift in method began to repay as he efficiently compelled the match right into a decider.
The margins started to tighten in an all-or-nothing remaining sport as each gamers fought proper right down to the wire. Zhou launched a ferocious backhand down the road at 10-8 to clinch a powerful victory. Through to the quarterfinals, Zhou strikes on to face Felix Lebrun.
“Both of us want to make a good start to keep lead in each game,” stated 26-year-old Zhou. “When I led the score in the decider, Ma call a time-out to level the points. I was thinking I need to call a time-out as well to take the final chance to win.”
Zhou believed Ma was not taking part in with a hundred percent energy like earlier than.
“He might be a bit tired, perhaps he did not have time to rest after the doubles game,” stated Zhou. “I can see that Ma was trying to motivate himself and he was eager to win, but he could not grab the chances at some crucial moment.”
Zhou advised Xinhua that he had performed in opposition to Ma in the course of the coaching periods and that typically he might win the trial contest.
“I’m very surprised to take the win today because it’s not easy to defeat a legend,” stated Zhou. “I was not burdened in mentality, just tried to make troubles for him and fought with good quality.”