In the first round of the Macau Table Tennis Championships men's singles match, there is a straight board battle worth paying attention to, the main player Xu Xin from Shanghai men's table tennis against his brother Zhao Zihao, in this contest between the same provincial team members, Xu Xin later came in 3-1 (8-11/11-3/11-8/11-11-3) to reverse Zhao Zihao. Xu Xin won the 2nd and 4th innings with a huge difference in scores, but also thanks to his sharp forehand attack, which is also the key technology of the straight board rushing to the main layer, otherwise it is difficult to gain a foothold in the trend of the world table tennis crossboard.
Xu Xin has been one of the five main players of the national table tennis team championship since 2010, and his straight board technology is very unique, different from Wang Hao's straight board horizontal play, but also different from Liu Chengmin's one-sided pull arc, mainly relying on the forehand attack as a backer, and the ability to fight and transition at the defensive end is the best among the straight board players. After the National Games, Xu Xin chose to truce, missed the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, and did not have the opportunity to defend the mixed doubles championship, and the Macau Tournament was the starting point for Xu Xin to return to the national team.
Zhao Zihao is a big general in the year of straight board, but his achievements are incomparable with Xu Xin, and in 2019, as a key training object of national table tennis, he participated in many open tournaments, including reaching the men's singles final at the Austrian Open, and finally defeated Fan Zhendong to get the runner-up, reaching the top 8 in the year-end finals, and then did not participate in international competitions. Zhao Zihao and Xu Xin have won the national championship men's team championship for the Shanghai men's team, and they are also one of the few outstanding team members in the domestic straight board.
In the 1st set, Zhao Zihao paid more attention to grasping Xu Xin's life goal, insisted on giving Xu Xin's backhand position, followed by a straight line, pressing xu Xin's forehand, the score has also maintained a lead, 6-5 when Xu Xin made undeserved mistakes in the handling of short balls in the stage, Zhao Zihao scored 4 points in a row to get the inning point, Xu Xin chased 3 points in vain, Zhao Zihao won a set with an 11-8 lead.
In the second set, Xu Xin began to incorporate the rhythm of the game, he began to take advantage of the continuous grab after the serve, rushing Zhao Zihao's backhand weakness, the score from 5-1 began to widen the score difference, and finally Xu Xin won easily 11-3. In the 3rd set, Xu Xin's forehand felt undiminished, and the fiery state made him hit a very high rate when he attacked continuously, playing a 5-1 start again, but then Zhao Zihao chased the score continuously, losing a chance ball at the end of the set 8-10, and finally losing another set at 8-11. In the 4th set, Xu Xin had the upper hand across the board, insisting on the use of the forehand, taking advantage of the changes in rotation and rhythm to quickly take the lead and win the whole game 11-3.
The straight board player itself is a weak area with a backhand, and only by strengthening the attack power of the forehand can it be possible to fight against the crossboard master. In the past, South Korean players Liu Nam-kyu, Kim Taek-so, and Yoo Seung-min had a backhand push, and more scoring tools relied on the forehand, and had the ability to pass the board, which was particularly violent. Xu Xin also has the strength of the world-class forehand, and has been firmly in the ranks of the main force of national table tennis, but the world table tennis straight board players are becoming more and more scarce, also because the forehand can not play the quality of the threatening pull ball, and soon buried in the team of the horizontal board players reduced to sparring. In the future, if the straight board wants to have a way out, first of all, the forehand of the young player is trained first, and only then can the capital be called the board crossboard player.