The Peninsula
World number one Xu Xin and top seed Fan Zhendong yesterday made it to the singles semi-finals of the 2020 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open with commendable wins as Chinese men continued to stamp their dominance Doha.
China booked three out of four spots as Great Britain’s Liam Pitchford became the only non-Chinese player to play in today’s men’s singles semi-finals.
The third Chinese joining them in the semis today is Wang Chuqin who eliminated fellow countryman Liang Jingkun.
Top seeded Zhendong booked a place in the semis with a 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10) win that ended the impressive run of Swede Jon Persson at the Aspire Academy Hall while Xin beat Simon Gauzy in a seventh game decider.
A great all-round display from the Frenchman and a world class performance by the best in the game provided maximum thrills to spectators in Doha.
Xu eventually earned the ticket to the semis by sealing the win in 4-3 (6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7).
Pitchford beat Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan, in four straight games (14-12, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7).
Qualifier Chih-Yuan, who beat Japanese teenager Tokomazu Harimoto and Yukiya Uda on his way to the last eight was a crowd favourite but the Briton was a step ahead in his game this time.
Wang Chuqin, who surprisingly outplayed defending singles champion Ma Long, emerged victorious after another thrilling contest. Wang took an early lead, but was then challenged by Jingkun who leveled the scores at 2-2.
However, the giantkiller Wang eventually came out on top 4-2 (11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7) to move on through to the last four.
In the women’s singles semi-finals, the world No.1 Chen Meng knocked out defending champion Wang Manyu in an all-Chinese duel yesterday. After yesterday’s 4-2 (10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5, 11-4) win, Meng will meet Japan’s Ito Mima in today’s final.
Ito Mima clinched a comfortable 4-0 (11-6, 14-12, 11-0, 11-5) win over Ding Ning to carry Japan’s only hope for gold medal s at the Doha event.
Earlier, yesterday, despite a strong resistance from Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall, Long and Xin secured the gold medal in the men’s doubles final.
The final score read 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-1, 11-6) after 29 minutes of exciting action where the Chinese pair proved to be too good for the Englishmen.
Women’s doubles title was also won by China with Manyu and Zhu Yuling emerging champions in Doha.
They defeated top seeds Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki of Japan 3-1 (11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9).