Chinese table tennis players shine in WTT 2024 Saudi Smash

JEDDAH - Chinese table tennis players excelled at the WTT 2024 Saudi Smash on Sunday, with all participants from the men's and women's teams advancing to the next round in the singles competitions.

In the women's singles, Sun Yingsha, Qian Tianyi, Wang Yidi, and Chen Xingtong all sailed through the first round.

Sun faced off against veteran Liu Xinyin from Chinese Taipei and swiftly secured an 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 victory to progress to the next round smoothly.

Qian's match against Luxembourg veteran Ni Xialian was exceptionally tense. Despite losing the first two games with scores of 13-15 and 9-11, Qian displayed tremendous resilience in the subsequent three games, eventually overturning the tide with scores of 11-7, 12-10, 11-7.

Wang's match against French player Prithika Pawade was also tightly contested. After losing the first two games 7-11, 4-11, Pawade fought back to level the overall score at 2-2. In the decisive fifth game, Wang held her nerve to clinch a narrow 12-10 victory, securing a 3-2 overall win and advancing to the next round.

Meanwhile, Chen delivered a stellar performance against Romania's Elisabeta Samara, winning three consecutive games, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

On men's part, both Ma Long and Fan Zhendong breezed through their opening matches. Ma, the world No. 3 and reigning Olympic champion of men's singles, showed no mercy against Belgium's Martin Allegro, winning in straight sets, 11-4, 11-4, 11-6, to smoothly progress to the next round.

Fan took on Chile's Nicolas Burgos in the first round, overcoming some initial difficulties to secure a 3-0 victory.