(by Steve Hopkins)

China nearly pulled off a sweep – nearly winning all four of the Quarterfinals.  It was Lin Yun-Ju of Taipei that joined three Chinese in the final four spots, but he needed to come back from being down 1-2, and being down 2-3 against Huang Youzheng in order to make that happen.  For those that haven’t seen the latest Chinese 19 year old play, you may want to tune in to watch Youzheng – who was in a group with both Tomokazu Harimoto and Oh Junsung and finished undefeated, and then dispensed with Cho Daeseong in the Round of 16.  His tournament has now ended, but for World No. 54 Youzheng, take this tournament as his formal notice that he’s ready for the Senior Circuit.

There were not too many surprises in the first round on Saturday.  Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin each advanced easily.  Tomokazu Harimoto didn’t win his group, so he had a tough initial draw – but he weathered his first match against Lin Gaoyuan with a 3-1 win.  The other matches were mostly as expected, and the second round began in the evening.  Again, the top seeds prevailed with World No. 1 Lin Shidong and World No. 2 Wang Chuqin securing their spots in the Semifinals.  Huang fell to Lin Yun-Ju, with Lin advancing to face Chuqin on Sunday.  Harimoto fell 4-2 to Liang Jingkun which sent Jinkun to the Semifinals to face Lin Shidong.

On the women’s side, it was mostly China (5 Chinese, 2 Japanese, and 1 Taipei) by the Quarterfinals, but only China in the Semifinals.  Sun Yingsha defeated Miwa Harimoto 4-2, Chen Xingtong topped Mima Ito 4-1, Kuai Man defeated Wang Yidi 4-2, and Wang Manyu beat Cheng I-Ching 4-1.  Man will face Manyu and Yingsha will face Xingtong tomorrow.

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