SINGAPORE, March 17 (Xinhua) — Chinese paddlers have secured the women’s singles and doubles titles in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash here on Friday.
Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Qian Tianyi and Zhang Rui took all four spots in the women’s singles semifinals.
Top-ranked Sun emerged victorious in a seven-set thriller against Joo Cheon-hui of South Korea. World No. 104 Joo gave it his all to take the match to a decider, with Sun eventually winning 11-5.
Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin had a better start to the match with an 11-7 win in the first set, but the fourth-ranked Wang quickly responded by taking the next four games: 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 11-2 . Sun and Wang will compete for a place in the final.
Qian won in similar fashion to Wang, recovering from her first set loss to dispatch Sofia Polcanova of Austria 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.
Zhang beat 39-year-old German chopper Han Ying 4-1 to book a semi-final match with Qian.
In the women’s doubles semifinals, Wang Manyu/Sun Yingsha cruised past South Korean duo Shin Yu-bin/Jeon Ji-hee 3-0, while Chen Meng/Wang Yidi defeated Mima Ito/Hina Hayata of Japan 3-1.
Reigning Olympic champion Ma Long cruised past Germany’s Qiu Dang in straight sets in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
“It was probably the best match I’ve played since the Singapore Smash last year. In terms of my form and my hitting, I performed well on the court, and I felt relatively comfortable today,” commented 34-year-old Ma.
Ma’s semi-final opponent will be Brazilian ace Hugo Calderano, who overwhelmed Quadri Aruna of Nigeria 4-0.
Wang Chuqin saw off compatriot Lin Gaoyuan 4-1, setting up a semi-final meeting with tournament top seed Fan Zhendong, who accounted for Swedish prodigy Truls Moregard 4-2.
Also on Friday, Fan and Wang combined to win 3-1 in the men’s doubles semifinal over Yukiya Uda/Shunsuke Togami of Japan. The Chinese duo will battle for the title with Jang Woo-jin/Lim Jong-hoon of South Korea, who defeated Lin Yun-Ju/Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei 3-1.
Source: sn.dk