On March 17, 2022, the table tennis Grand Slam tournament continued, the first four places in the men's singles were released, and Japanese rising star Yukiya Utada fought hard for five sets, and finally narrowly defeated germany's Qiu Dang 3-2, eliminating the straight board celebrity to advance, waiting for the winners of Fan Zhendong and Germany's Francesca, and the men's doubles of Yukiya Utada/Tokami Hayabusa reached the final, challenging Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin to compete for the championship.
Yukiya Utada is 20 years old, ranked 49th in the world, last year's World Table Tennis Championships Yukiya partner Togami Hayabusa won the third place in the men's doubles of the World Table Tennis Championships, this time also reached the final, challenging the national table tennis combination Fan Zhendong / Wang Chuqin, men's singles Yukiya eliminated the German star Pol, the current Japanese men's team young generation, mainly Zhang Benzhihe, Yukiya Umada, Hayabusa Tokami This lineup, there should not be too many changes.
Qiu Dang is 25 years old, ranked 41st in the world, his father Qiu Jianxin previously coached in the Japanese team, once in charge of Zhang Benzhihe, Mizutani Hayabusa, Ishikawa Yoshijun and others, Qiu Dang represented the German team, and is currently the main player, it is worth mentioning that Qiu Dang is the only straight board player to reach the quarterfinals, and the two had a meeting in last year's World Table Tennis Championships, when Qiu Dang eliminated Yukiya Utada 4-1 to advance.
Unlike Zhang Benzhihe, Utada Yukiya is OK forehand, but the stability is very poor, the on-field play is indeed not accurate, Qiu Dang is relatively much better, his first three boards are more delicate, the overall strength of the two is relatively close, have their own advantages, the key is to see who can master the rhythm of the game, this is also today's eight singles 1/4 finals, the only game without national table tennis players to play.
In the first set, the two sides were caught in a fierce battle, the score alternately rose, Qiu Dang took the lead, but was quickly equalized by Yukiya Utada, came to the innings of the game Yukiya Utada to overtake, Qiu Dang improved the quality of the snowboard to chase 8 draws, Yukiya Utada made too many unnecessary mistakes, 10-8 points were overturned, followed by Qiu Dang's narrow victory 13-11, the coach Roskov who served as Qiu Dang's off-court coach, Uda Yukiya was teammate Hayabusa Toue.
In the second set, Yukiya Utada stepped up his offensive attack and scored 3 points in a row, Qiu Dang did not want to show weakness to chase 3 draws, Utada Yukiya stabilized his position, pulled the point difference to 6-3, both sides scored 4 points, Yukiya Utada took the initiative to score the ball and equalized 11-7, in the third set Yukiya Utada took a 3-0 lead, Qiu Dang made a 3-0 lead, Qiu Dang made a force, Qiu Dang won the set point 10-7, Yukiya Utada chased down to 9-10, Qiu Dang paused, and then won 11-9.
In the fourth set, Qiu Dang had ups and downs, Utada Yukiya scored 4 consecutive points to lead 8-4, and soon blasted 11-5 to color, the decisive game Utada Yukiya led 5-2, Qiu Dang lost consecutive points, Utada Yukiya locked up the victory 11-6, and finally won 3-2 against Qiu Dang and advanced to the men's singles final four.