On March 11, the WTT Singapore Grand Slam continued. Singles advance to the first round of the main tournament, which is the 1/32 final battle. The national table tennis team has played two matches, in which Lin Shidong beat Senegal's Dior 3-0 and Sun Yingsha swept Germany's Winter 3-0.
Next up was Wang Chuqin. His opponent was Falke of Sweden. Falke made his name at the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest. He reached the men's singles final, only losing 4-1 to Chinese table tennis player Ma Long in the final, but also finished second in the men's singles.
At the Houston World Table Tennis Championships in November 2021, the Swedish duo of Karlsson/Falke won the men's doubles title by defeating the South Korean duo of Jang Yu-jin and Lim Jong-hoon 3-1 in the doubles final. Falke became a world champion and at one point caused a stir in Sweden. Falk is a very good player.
Wang Chuqin will not say more, the majority of fans know the player. At the Houston World Table Tennis Championships in November 2021, he and Sun Yingsha defeated the Japanese duo of Tomotomo Zhang Benji/Hinoda 3-0 in the mixed doubles final to win the mixed doubles gold medal.
In the men's singles final of the WTT Macau Championship in January, Wang Chuqin won the championship by defeating teammate Lin Gaoyuan 4-3. At the recent WTT Oman Challenge, Wang Chuqin/Chen Xingtong swept India's Takal/Kamas 3-0 to win the mixed doubles title. Wang Chuqin's recent state is very good.
Wang Chuqin defeated Falke 3-0 and scored 13:11, 11:4, 13:11 in three sets.
In the first set, the two played a difficult score, and after Wang Chuqin took a 4-3 lead, Fark scored three consecutive points to win 6:4. Wang Chuqin also scored three consecutive points to take the lead again. Wang Chuqin played a side ball to take the lead 10:8 to win the set point.
Wang Chuqin made a series of mistakes, and Fark scored 2 consecutive points to tie the score. Falke picked up the lead and Wang Chuqin won the set point again at 11:10. Wang Chuqin made another mistake and provoked it. Falk equalised again. Wang Chuqin scored two consecutive points to win the first set 13:11. Although Wang Chuqin won this game, he made too many mistakes and gave Fark a lot of opportunities.
In the second set, Wang Chuqin made a good start of 6:1. This made Fark very passive. Falke chased two points at 8:2, but Wang Chuqin scored three consecutive points to lighten the set at 11:4. This game Wang Chuqin won too easily, which is bound to affect Fark's mood.
In the third set, Wang Chuqin made a good start of 6:3. Falke called a pause. After the timeout, Falke scored two straight points to narrow the gap. At 7:6 Falke made a mistake, Wang Chuqin scored 2 consecutive points, and the point difference was 3 points. After scoring one point each, Wang Chuqin won the match point 10:7.
Wang Chuqin began to make mistakes again, first twisting down the net, and then pulling out the chief. Falke fought well. Falke scored four straight points to make it 11-10. At the critical moment, Wang Chuqin dared to shoot and fight to equalize the score. Falke made a mistake under the high pressure of Wang Chuqin and returned the ball. Wang Chuqin scored three consecutive points to win the set 13:11.
In the end, Wang Chuqin defeated Falke 3-0 to advance to the men's singles round of 32. Although Wang Chuqin only played three sets to win, the process was thrilling, and two sets scored a high score of 13:11. If it is a little bit worse, the ending is difficult to say.
In this game, the reason why Wang Chuqin played a little difficult was mainly because he made too many mistakes. He has to find a way to change, not to make too many senseless mistakes, otherwise he will not go far.
In the post-game interview, Wang Chuqin said that the competition was very advanced, the prize money and points were very high, and the level of the participating players was also very high. He will enjoy this game and do his best to play this game well.