(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Fan Zhendong has fallen ahead of schedule again – this time losing to Hugo Calderano in the Semifinal. Calderano started off on fire, winning the first three games before Fan fought back to tighten the score. But the early lead was too much to overcome, as Calderano advances to the Final 4-2. Two great matches in a row for Calderano as he defeats Felix Lebrun and World No. 2 Fan Zhendong to reach the Final.
Calderano will face Liang Jingkun who topped Ma Long 4-3 on Saturday. Jingkun jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before losing three straight – but was able to come back and win the final two games. Before today, Ma Long was 7-0 against Jingkun, so many might have made him the favorite. All of these matches between the Chinese greats have extra interest this year as they jockey for position on the Chinese team at the Olympics. Who will the two players be who are singles entrants? Who will the primary three players be in the team event. Right now, Chuqin has taken World No. 1, and if Jingkun wins the Final of this event he will edge closer to Fan Zhendong for World No. 2 – and that leaves Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan further down in the rankings with lots of ground to make up in a very short time.
The Women’s Singles event had six top seeds who had advanced to the Quareters and after the two Saturday rounds it is the top two seeds who will battle for the title. Sun Yingsha defeated Wang Yidi 4-0, and Wang Manyu defeated Chen Meng 4-2.
The Finals will be played on Sunday.
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