Chinese Table Tennis players secured all four semi-finals spots in the women’s singles category at the German Open leg of the ITTF – International Table Tennis Federation’s World Platinum Tour tournament in Magdeburg, Germany.
Ding Ning outed Japan’s Mima Ito with a 4-1 (11-7, 11-13, 14-12, 11-8, 11-5) victory to make the tournament an all-Chinese affair in the last quarter-final of the day.
The top-seeded world number one Chen Meng defeated her country fellow Wang Yidi4-1 (6-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-5, 11-6) in the quarter-finals in a fast-paced match that lasted for 40 minutes.
The fifth-seeded Zhu Yuling absolutely outclassed the world champion Liu Shiwen registering a 2-0 lead in just fifteen minutes and finished with a 4-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-3, 11-2) victory.
Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha faced off in a spectacular battle of wits keeping the scoreboard strictly tied even after six games. In the end, Wang emerged victorious with a 4-3 (11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10, 3-11, 11-8) victory to qualify for the semis.
China was already the most likely country to secure the title as seven out of the final eight players were Chinese. Having all four semi-finalists essentially means that China has secured the ITTF title in advance.
Chinese players also dominate the Men’s singles category by securing three out of the four spots in semi-finals after Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan and Ma Long won their respective quart-finals clashes. Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov defeated Fan Zhendong to avoid a full Chinese dominance.
