(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

The Chinese men reached the Final today, and with their team comprised of World No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 there is very little surprise to report in that half of the draw.  Perhaps, the biggest news from the top half of the draw was, in fact, that China trailed twice today against Korea before righting their ship and advancing.  Jang Woojin started things off well for Korea with a 3-1 win over Wang Chuqin.  Fan Zhendong then evened the score with a dominating 3-0 win over Lim Jonghoon.  Korea’s Lee Sang Su then pressed forward again, a hard fought 3-2 win over Ma Long.  Fan stepped into the ring again in the fourth match and the result was the same – a dominating 3-0 win for China – this time over Jang Woojin.  And with the score again tied, it was China’s Wang Chuqin that gave China the 3-2 win with his victory over Lim Jonghoon.  China advances to the Final (as expected), and Korea logs a solid performance finishing in third (and pushing the top seed into the fifth match).

France has emerged from the other half of the draw.  France eased past Poland and Portugal before scoring a 3-1 victory over Taipei in the Semifinal.  For their part, Taipei upset Sweden with Lin Yun-Ju winning twice and Kao Cheng-Jui sealing the 3-2 victory with a win over Mattias Falck, and then Taipei upset Germany – a 3-0 smackdown including two upset wins.  Tomorrow, France will face China in the Final.

The Chinese women were pushed to 5 sets in their first match of the tournament (against India) and have now closed out the tournament with a 5 set victory (this time over Japan).  Between those two matches – China dominated much as they have in every team match in recent years.  But in those two matches, the unbeatable Chinese looked… beatable.  Sun Yingsha started the Final off in strong fashion for China – a 3-0 win over Miwa Harimoto.  But Japan won the next two matches – a 3-1 win for Hina Hayata over Chen Meng, and a 3-0 win for Miu Hirano over Wang Yidi.  Much like the men, however, China’s women finished strong – with wins for Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng giving China the 3-2 team victory.

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