Chen reaches quarters, Ma crashes out of WTT Champions
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E-mail Xinhua, April 12, 2023
Olympic champion Chen Meng of China pulled off a straight-game victory over Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan to advance to the women's singles quarterfinals, while China's legend Ma Long crashed out of the men's singles second round after falling 3-1 to Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Xinxiang on Tuesday.
Chen displayed her dominance in an 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 victory over Ishikawa in 32 minutes.
"I just tried to focus on the game and discover my form. I was fully concentrated today and enjoyed the feeling of playing on the court," commented Chen.
Chen will face another Japanese paddler Hina Hayata in the quarterfinal. Hayata also breezed past Nina Mittelham of Germany in straight games.
"I need to make full preparation for the difficulties in every match. Hayata is a strong opponent and has some quality hits, so I need to quickly get into the game," Chen added.
Chen's compatriot Wang Manyu eased past Bruna Takahashi of Brazil 11-3, 11-3, 11-8.
Wang, who had won a nail-biter over Dina Meshref of Egypt in full games in the first round, was satisfied with her adjustments between the two matches.
"Winning an intense match in the previous round helped a lot in getting into shape and keeping my concentration today, and I adjusted well at the start of the game," said Wang.
After losing 11-5, 11-9 in the opening two games, Ma made his response by pulling one game back 11-6 and recovering from a 5-9 deficit with five points in a row to take one game point in the fourth, but Lin then steadied himself and pocketed three straight points to come through 12-10.
"It was my best match for a period of time. Facing against such a strong opponent like Ma, I just wanted to challenge him," Lin explained.
Lim Jong-hoon of South Korea saw off Japanese teenager Tomokazu Harimoto 3-1 to book his ticket to the quarterfinals.
China's Chen Xingtong dispatched Miyuu Kihara of Japan 3-0 in the women's singles first round, while world No. 6 Mima Ito of Japan secured her spot in the last 16 with a 3-0 victory over Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut.
Also on Tuesday, Ruwen Filus of Germany and Swede Mattias Falck advanced to the men's second round.
The remaining second-round matches of the tournament will be held on Wednesday.
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