(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

The WTT Champions Series event in Chongqing was designed to feature the most elite players in the world, battling in an ideal venue, with great action and ultimately a showdown of the best of the best. This edition of the WTT Champions Series certainly delivered as advertised. By Sunday, the field had narrowed to just four – the top four ranked players in the world.  Both of the Semifinal matchups had interesting subplots. And one of the biggest storylines of the tournament – if Chuqin becomes the winner, would he have sufficient ranking points to be World No. 1.

Lin Shidong faced Liang Jingkun and the two have been evenly matched over their careers with Shidong winning 5 and Jingkun 4.  Most recently, the two faced each other in the Semifinal of the Asian Cup and Jingkun eliminated Shidong.  In today’s match, Jingkun won the first game 11-8, but then never really found momentum again.  Shidong won the next four games, three of them easily – starting strong, developing a lead, and then playing nearly mistake-free.  World No. 1 Lin Shidong advances to the Final with a 4-1 win.

In the bottom half of the draw, Wang Chuqin continued to roll.  The World No. 2 had a path to the final that included wins over Quadri Aruna, Alexis Lebrun, and Truls Moregard and he didn’t drop a game.  In his Semifinal match against Tomokazu Harimoto, Chuqin lost the first game 12-10, but then dominated four straight at 5, 6, 5, and 7).  World No. 2 Wang Chuqin reaches the Final with another dominant win.

The path to the Final for the world’s top two players differed in this event.  Shidong had competitive matches with tight scores, and before the Final he had won 13 games and lost 6.  Chuqin, on the other hand, enjoyed relatively easy wins, winning 13 games while losing only 1.  Because only 100 ranking points separates No. 1 from No. 2, the winner today would gain sufficient points to be the World No. 1 – but rankings are a complex system of cumulative points for a 52 week period, with points sometimes expiring under special rules.  Thus, the bragging rights for Chongqing are e ranking results are a question for another day.

Wang Chuqin began in dominant fashion, reaching 5 first, and basically winning 2/3 of the points for an easy 11-5 win.  The script largely flipped in the second game with Shidong up 6-3, then 8-4, and then winning 11-6 to tie the game score.  But from that point, Chuqin got stronger.  Both players largely play soft until the first ball goes long and then its an ever-building blistering pace of topspin to topspin rallies. Shidong has the advantage on both sides with the most powerful single shot – occasionally pounding a single shot for an intended winner.  Chuqin has the edge with mobility and consistency, and both players generate great power.  In today’s match, mistakes by Chuqin seemed to lead to slower top spin recoveries that kept him in the rally, and mistakes by Shidong led to being forced away from the table, sometimes lobbing, and points that largely went to his opponent.  Chuqin pulled ahead by the middle of the third game to win easily again.  And in the fourth, he won the first 5 points and then easily won that game.  The fifth game was close early, but again, Chuqin pulled ahead and finished strong.  Wang Chuqin wins 4-1.  He is the WTT Champions Chongqing winner, and on Tuesday, we’ll find out if he is the new World No. 1.

On Sunday it will be Wang Chuqin versus Tomokazu Harimoto and Lin Shidong versus Liang Jingkun.  The Final will be played on Sunday evening as well.

Chen Xingtong upset Wang Manyu today 4-2.  There is a significant ranking point difference between World No. 4 (4250) and World No. 2 (8850) so this was no small task.  However, the run was short-lived as Sun Yingsha dominated the Final 4-0 (7, 4, 10, 7).  Sun Yingsha had a tighter match with World No. 3 Wang Yidi in their Semifinal match-up where the fell behind 0-2 before winning the next four.

The WTT tour next turns its attention to Chennai where a WTT Star Contender event will be held in the last week of March, and then to Incheon where the next WTT Champions event will be held in the first week of April.  Harimoto, and Calderano are currently the top two seeds in both of those upcoming events, as after these great results on their home soil the top Chinese will skip the WTT Series visits to India and Korea.

Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.