Wang Manyu (left) and Wang Chuqin
China’s Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu were crowned again in the men’s and women’s singles respectively at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao yesterday.
In the men’s singles final, 22-year-old Wang Chuqin defended his title after closing out a dominant 4-0 win over double Olympic gold medalist Ma Long 12-10, 11-1, 11-8, 11-7.
Both players flew out of the starting blocks at top speed, but Ma failed to capitalize on several opportunities, leaving second seed Wang enough room to race 2-0 in front.
Frustrated by the opening stages of the match, Ma struggled to get back on track while Wang remained focused and approached each point with excellent balance to inch closer to victory.
“I was very happy to win against Ma Long, but I still had some problems during the match. I had a slow start and I need to analyze this problem later. This championship gives me a lot of confidence,” Wang said after the match.
In the women’s singles final, second seed Wang Manyu lifted the second WTT Champions trophy after fighting from behind to defeat Olympic champion Chen Meng 4-2 (11-13, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8).
Chen enjoyed the brighter start to the final, but Wang slowly began to work her way up into the contest, digging deep to move ahead and putting her foot firmly on the accelerator to close out the match in style.
“I handled the key shots a little better today. The championship gives me confidence, which will help me keep a good form in the following matches,” Wang said.
On Saturday, Ma survived huge pressure 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 said after the match.
Fan was stunned by France’s Alexis Lebrun in the men’s singles quarterfinals on Friday.
With a sensational 3-2 victory over Fan (11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9), the 19-year-old Lebrun became the first European player to defeat Fan since Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s 3-2 victory at the WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022 last October.
“I feel amazing! He’s the World No.1. He played very, very good, so I think I did amazing today and reached my peak service game,” said Lebrun after the match.
Ranked at No.1050 in the World as recently as January 2022, World No.22 Lebrun has enjoyed an astonishing rise to prominence over the past 15 months. MDT/Xinhua
