MACAO, April 22 (Xinhua) — China’s Ma Long and Olympic champion Chen Meng are set to confront compatriots Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu within the males’s and girls’s singles finals respectively on the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao on Sunday.
In the boys’s singles semifinals held on Saturday, Ma defeated France’s Alexis Lebrun 4-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8).
Ma survived big strain from the French teenager, who had upset world No. 1 Fan Zhendong of China on Friday.
“This was our first encounter. I had faith to strive for victory and did quite well in finding solutions under difficult circumstances. He played fiercely. He is a powerful player,” Ma stated after the match.
Defending champion Wang Chuqin additionally headed to the boys’s singles ultimate after a straight-games win over third seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, setting himself up with the prospect of a title defence in Macao.
“At the beginning, I couldn’t get used to the rhythm of my opponent. Winning the first game helped me a lot,” Wang stated after the match.
In the ladies’s singles semifinals, Olympic champion Chen is thru to her first-ever WTT Champions ultimate after popping out on high 4-0 towards world No. 1 Sun Yingsha (16-14, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9).
“I was in a relatively good state of mind. Sun has been in good form and I just wanted to earn as many points as I could. I will do my best in the final and wish for good luck,” Chen stated after the match.
Second seed Wang Manyu additionally booked her return to the ultimate, taking down world No.3 Wang Yidi 4-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4).
“I kept my focus throughout the match. The second game was very important for me to win,” Wang Manyu stated afterwards.