The inaugural WTT Singapore Grand Slam Tournament was held on the afternoon of March 17 in a battle of focus between ST Olympic women's singles champion Chen Meng and former sister of Japanese women's table tennis, Yoshinori Ishikawa.
Chen Meng and Ishikawa Jiajun are both veterans, Chen Meng was born in 1994 and is 28 years old this year, and Ishikawa Jiajun was born in 1993, a year older than Chen Meng. Despite being veterans, the two are still in very good shape.
Judging from the record of the two men's matches, Chen Meng has an absolute advantage, and Ishikawa Yoshijun has only defeated Chen Meng once in the 2019 Australian Open.
Chen Meng and Ishikawa Jiajun's two most recent encounters were at last year's Houston World Table Tennis Championships and WTT World Cup Finals, when Chen Meng defeated Ishikawa Yoshijun twice in a row. At present, Ishikawa's state has declined with age, and she has lost the lineup of this year's Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships, and for the veteran, there is an urgent need to prove herself.
In the first game, the two people were already very familiar, and they started to attack, but in the ball holding, Chen Meng had a clear advantage, and soon, Chen Meng took a 3-1 lead.
But Ishikawa Yoshizumi tenaciously chased the score to 3-4, in the game, Chen Meng's powerful attack, making Ishikawa Yoshijun difficult to overwhelm, Chen Meng took the lead in 10-6 to get the set point, Ishikawa Yoshizumi did not give up, tenaciously saved two innings in a row, at the critical moment, Chen Meng relied on a violent forehand attack to score, and won the first set with an 11-8 score!
In the second game, the two sides competed more fiercely, and the score alternately rose. Ishikawa Yoshinori obviously improved the quality of his shots, and Chen Meng was not willing to show weakness, the two launched a number of confrontations, and the score was fought all the way to 9 draws!
Ishikawa's form at this time was significantly improved, and after 9 draws, he scored two consecutive points to win back a set with an 11-9 score! Big score battle to 1 draw!
In the third game, Chen Meng quickly came out of the shadow of the loss of the second set and played more proactively, while Ishikawa Yoshijun was too anxious and frequently made mistakes!
11-0！ Chen Meng showed no mercy and swept Ishikawa Yoshijun 11-0 to win the third set, leading 2-1!
In the crucial fourth game, the two sides fought very fiercely at the beginning, and the score was fought all the way to 5 draws!
At this time, Chen Meng's off-court coach Ma Lin seemed very nervous, every time Chen Meng lost a point, Ma Lin was very anxious, and even stood up excitedly, every time Chen Meng won a point, Marlene excitedly clenched her fists and roared!
Driven by Ma Lin, Chen Meng's momentum also quickly increased, and at this time, the entire venue resounded with Chen Meng's roar!
For every point won, chen meng and Ma Lin's shouts resounded throughout the venue!
Chen Meng and Ishikawa Jiajun played until 6 draws and 7 draws, Chen Meng became more and more courageous, and finally scored 4 points in a row, defeating Ishikawa Yoshizumi with a score of 11-7 and advancing to the women's singles final four!
To be able to win this game, Chen Meng and Marlene are very excited!
In an interview after the game, Chen Meng said that he had recently competed with Ishikawa Jiajun a lot, and he was very satisfied with his performance to win the game this time!
Looking forward to the next semi-final with teammate Wang Yidi, Chen Meng said that he lost to Wang Yidi here in last year's WTT World Cup finals, hoping that he could play better this time and avenge Wang Yidi!