China's Ma Long and Xu Xin to meet in table tennis WC semis

LIVERPOOL, England, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Ma Long and second seed Xu Xin will fight for a final berth in the semifinals after both defeated rivals at the men's table tennis World Cup here on Saturday.

Ma, bidding for his first title after two failed attempts, ended Michael Maze's winning run in the quarterfinals, beating the Dane in straight sets to enter the semifinals here on Saturday.

The world No. 2, a member of China's winning team at the London Olympic Games, met little challenge to beat Maze 11-4,11-5,11-7,11- 7.

Xu, who kept a perfect record in the group stage, demolished Jiang Tianyi of Hong Kong, China, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2, 12-10 in another semifinal match.

"I played very well today," Ma said. "My form has been affected a lot because of a lack of good training after the Olympic Games. But I think I am playing better and better."

"I think if we Chinese players maintain strong mentally, we are unbeatable," said Xu.

The other semifinal will be played between three-time champion Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus and twice titlist Timo Boll of Germany.

Samsonov edged Chuang Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei in a seven- set thriller while Boll eliminated South Korea's Joo Saehyuk.

The semifinals will be played on Sunday morning while the champion will be decided on the afternoon. Enditem

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)