(by Steve Hopkins, image WTT)
The biggest story of the Quarterfinals at the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals, were two unexpected names in the Final 8. Those surprise runs (Egypt’s Omar Assar and Denmark’s Anders Lind) ended in the Quarters and the Final 4 were all basically as expected – with wins by Fan Zhendong (No. 1), Wang Chuqin (No. 2), Ma Long (No. 3), and Jiang Jingkun (No. 5). Jingkun was the only upset – and that was a No. 5 winning over No. 4 (Harimoto).
So as the 128 players have now been narrowed to just four, we have four of the top five players in the World battling in the final weekend. Those Semifinal matches were played on Saturday, with Fan Zhendong topping Liang Jingkun 4-2, and Wang Chuqin topping Ma Long 4-1. For Fan, he has consistently topped Jingkun (Fan has won 7 of 9). The same is true of Wang Chuqin, who has played the role of “dragonslayer” against the player they call “the dragon”. Chuqin’s record against Ma Long is now 7 of 10 times in major events.
Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin will play each other on Sunday night in the Final. In this matchup, Fan has dominated – winning 6 of 8. Sunday’s match could be a first step towards bettering their head-to-head record and narrowing the gap between Fan and the Chuqin in the rankings… Or it could be just one more big win in one of the longest runs at the top of the Rankings in modern history.
Japan’s Hina Hayata (No. 10) made a run to the Semifinals – facing World No. 1 Sun Yingsha. The other Semifinal was between Chen Meng (No. 4) and Chen Xingtong (No. 5). In their Semifinal matchups it was Sun over Hayata 4-1, and Chen Meng over Xingtong 4-1. Sun Yingsha will face Chen Meng Sunday afternoon.
Men’s Doubles concluded today – with the two Men’s Finalists (Chuqin and Zhendong) teaming up for the 3-0 win over Korea’s Jang Woojing and Lim Jonghoon. Korea’s Jeon Jihee and Shing Yubin upset the defending World Champions (Sun/Wang) in the Semifinals, but then fell 0-3 to Wang Yidi and Chen Meng in the Women’s Doubles Final. And in Mixed Doubles, it was Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin with a 3-0 win over Japan’s Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.
