SINGAPORE – They have been an on-off mixture because the 2019 Austrian Open however Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin’s males’s doubles partnership didn’t actually take off. At final November’s World Table Tennis Championships, they had been knocked out within the quarter-finals.
That all modified on the US$2 million (S$2.71 million) World Table Tennis (WTT) Grand Smash, after they received their greatest title as a pair after beating Japanese world No. 3s Yukiya Uda and Shunsuke Togami 3-1 (12-10, 12-10, 12-14, 11-7) within the males’s doubles remaining on the OCBC Arena on Friday evening (March 18).
After selecting up a cheque for US$12,000, Wang, who received the combined doubles remaining on Thursday with compatriot Sun Yingsha, mentioned: “We nonetheless can get higher, however with such a consequence, we will have extra perception in our means as a pair.
“Of course, having world No. 1s as partners gives me more assurance, but whether we will continue as a pair is up to the coaches.”
China’s energy in depth means they will afford to experiment with completely different mixtures for competitions – Fan has teamed with Xu Xin, whereas Wang paired with Liang Jingkun on the current WTT Contender Muscat – however which will imply that they don’t have as a lot chemistry as different extra established pairings.
In Friday’s remaining, there have been occasions the place the Thirty third-ranked Fan and Wang left gaps for World Championships bronze medalists Uda and Togami, each 20, to use as they had been pushed exhausting within the first three video games, however managed to discover a breakthrough.
Fan, who will play Uda in Saturday’s males’s singles semi-finals, mentioned: “It takes more than training to build a partnership and we didn’t achieve what we set out to at the World Championships, so this victory feels sweet as this competition is of a similar level.”
Fans had been handled to spectacular desk tennis earlier within the night when each all-China ladies’s singles semi-finals went the space.
Olympic champion and world No. 2 Chen Meng admitted she thought she was in “full control”, solely to be taken to the wire by fifth-ranked Wang Yidi earlier than rising a 4-3 (11-3, 13-11, September 11, 11-4, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8) winner.
The 28-year-old mentioned: “I haven’t had such a close match recently, so this experience was valuable.”
She will want all of that and extra to beat the in-form world champion Wang Manyu. The world No. 4 eked out one other spectacular win over world No. 1 Sun, prevailing 4-3 (7-11, 12-10, September 11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8).
The 23-year-old, who will staff up with Sun to face Japan’s Mima Ito and Hina Hayata in Saturday’s ladies’s doubles remaining, mentioned: “Recent results have built a foundation of confidence. In such a close fight, I feel like I have more lasting power.”
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