On January 20, in the men's singles quarterfinals of the WTT Macau Championships, Ma Long swept Liang Jingkun 3-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Ma Long ushered in the first victory in 2022, and his next opponent is Wang Chuqin, it is worth mentioning that Ma Long was eliminated by Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in yesterday's mixed doubles, and now the two meet in the men's singles to compete for the top four places, which is also Ma Long's revenge battle.
In the first set of the game, as soon as Ma Long grabbed the first three boards, the first ball was out of bounds, and then Ma Long scored 3 consecutive points, although he was chased by Liang Jingkun to a 3-3 draw, but Ma Long immediately responded, his landing point was very good, and he also played with momentum, opening the score gap 7-3. Liang Jingkun's luck is also good. The edge ball caught Malone off guard. At the same time, Liang Jingkun actively adjusted, and he chased the score to 8-8. The two draw consecutively, and Malone took advantage of Liang Jingkun's mistake to take the lead in getting the set point. As Malone scored with a slam, he won the first set 11-9.
In the second set, although Liang Jingkun won the first point, Malone played with momentum, compared to Liang Jingkun's mentality, there were obvious fluctuations, And Malone scored 7 consecutive points to expand the advantage 7-1. Malone then let down his guard and was stopped by Liang Jingkun's score, Liang Jingkun played at his own pace, he scored 4 consecutive points, trailing 5-8. Malone didn't call a timeout, he stabilized the situation. Liang Jingkun let go of a fight and chased to 9-9, Liang Jingkun saved 2 consecutive set points, and Malone won 13-11 to lead 2-0 on aggregate.
In the third set, Malone had adapted to Liang Jingkun's serve, and Liang Jingkun's mistakes began to be too much, and Malone started 5-0. Malone won the inning 11-6, winning 3-0 on aggregate to advance to the men's singles quarterfinals.
After losing to Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin in mixed doubles, Ma Long now has only one men's singles, so as a veteran, he has put his left and right energy into the men's singles. In the men's singles field, Malone's strength is still the world's top, he is very experienced, which often plays a very important role in key moments.
I also look forward to the performance of Malone in the future, who has won the first victory of 2022, and then strives to gradually find the best state through the deepening of the game and impact the men's singles championship.