(by Steve Hopkins)
World No. 1 Lin Shidong needed all five games in his win over An Jaehyun in order to reach the Quarterfinals at the WTT Champions Series event in Chongqing, China. The WTT Champions Series is the best of the best, so there are no easy matches – but there were some other surprises in this round.
Shidong will face Lin Yun-Ju. Lin logged a dominant 3-0 win over Patrick Franziska. Lin Yun-Ju has yet to lose a game in Chongqing, winning both rounds 3-0. Liang Jingkun defeated Lin Gaoyuan 3-1 in a battle of two high seeds. Jingkun moves on to face Felix Lebrun. For his part, Felix logged his second 3-0 win – topping Yukiya Uda.
The biggest underdog left is World no. 28 Hiroto Shinozuka. Shinozuka has emerged from the most unstable fourth of the draw where both Calderano and Ovtcharov were upset (Lee Sang Su over Calderano and Shinozuka over Ovtcharov). And then it was Shinozuka who fell behind 0-2 but then won three straight. Tomokazu Harimoto has won again 3-0, this time over Anton Kallberg. Harimoto will face Shinozuka in an all-Japan Quarterfinal. And the final matchup will be between Wang Chuqin and Truls Moregard, the two top seeds in their fourth of the draw. Both won today 3-0, with Moregard eliminating Dang Qiu and Chuqin defeating Alexis Lebrun.
All four Quarterfinal matches will be played on Saturday. The Finals will be played on Sunday.
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