SINGAPORE, March 14 (Xinhua) — China’s Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu booked their places in the women’s singles round of 16 as reigning Olympic champion Ma Long eased past compatriot Lin Shidong in the men’s singles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash here on Tuesday.
Top seed Sun faced little challenge en route to a 3-0 win over Sabine Winter of Germany, while Wang cruised past Miyuu Kihara of Japan in straight sets.
“The rhythm of the game was in my control, but I ran into some problems in the third set. Sabine has made great progress in the last year,” commented Sun, who had defeated Winter in straight sets in Singapore a year ago.
Chinese paddlers Chen Xingtong, Zhang Rui and Qian Tianyi have already advanced to the women’s singles round.
Despite forcing a decider, world number 6 Hina Hayata of Japan fell to Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut in full sets.
Ma dispatched 17-year-old Lin, currently ranked 19th in the world, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 in the men’s singles second round.
“He has been in good form recently, winning a title and finishing second in the last two events, so I made a good preparation for this match,” said 34-year-old Ma.
Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun reached the men’s singles round of 16 on Monday. Lin will battle for a place in the last eight with Liang.
Top seeds Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha bounced back from an 11-7 loss in the first set to win the next three sets 14-12, 11-7, 11-7 to eliminate Lim Jong-hoon/Shin Yu-bin of South Korea in the mixed doubles quarter finals.
Sun/Wang made it to the semi-finals with compatriots Fan Zhendong/Wang Manyu, who saw off the Swedish duo Truls Moregard/Christina Kallberg 3-1.
In the women’s doubles second round, Chen Meng/Wang Yidi recovered from their losses in the singles competition to defeat Manika Batra/Archana Girish Kamath of India in full sets.
Source: sn.dk