On the evening of March 19, Beijing time, the 2022 WTT Singapore Grand Slam men's singles event began to compete for the semi-finals, and the world's no. 1 Fan Zhendong and the new generation representative of the Japanese team, Utada Yukiya, staged a strong dialogue. In the end, the more powerful Fan Zhendong defeated his opponent 4:2 to advance to the men's singles final. In the previous men's doubles final, Fan Zhendong had already teamed up with Wang Chuqin to defeat the combination of Yukiya Utada and Hayabusa Tokami to win the championship, this time in the singles match again cut the opponent off the horse, Fan Zhendong also achieved a double kill against Yukiya Utada.
In the men's singles final four, there are three Chinese players, Ma Long and Liang Jingkun competing for a final spot, and Fan Zhendong's match is the team's only foreign game. As the first leg of the new season, the national table tennis coaching staff sent the strongest squad to play, Fan Zhendong is the leader of the men's team, and it is also the absolute main force of the team to win gold at the Paris Olympic Games. At the Singapore Grand Slam, Fan Zhendong competed in the men's singles and men's doubles events. In the men's doubles competition, he and Wang Chuqin passed the hurdles and finally won the first championship trophy in 2022, which was also the 20th doubles title of Fan Zhendong's career.
Moving to the men's singles semifinals, Fan Zhendong and Japan's Yukiya Utada met in the narrow road, which was the first time the two had met in an international arena. Fan Zhendong said in an interview before the game that Yukiya Utada has improved rapidly in recent seasons and that he is very much looking forward to playing a high-quality game with him. After the game began, Fan Zhendong quickly entered the state of the game, because the two had not exchanged hands before, they did not understand each other in terms of techniques and tactics, and in the first game, both sides were testing and exploring. Fan Zhendong has obvious advantages in the stalemate stage, especially the backhand storm that makes Utada Yukiya difficult to overcome.
Every time he wins a goal, Fan Zhendong will roar angrily and cheer himself up. The screams of the fans at the scene were even more numerous, and they constantly cheered for Fan Zhendong on the sidelines. Although Japan's Uda Yukiya reached the men's singles semifinals for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament, he also dared to fight on the field. Fan Zhendong seized the opportunity in the final stage of the first set to take the next city 11:9. In the second set, Yukiya Utada continued to strengthen the fight, taking the lead in the opening game, and fan Zhendong, who was behind, was a little anxious on the field, and after many mistakes, he lost the set 7:11. During the suspension period, qin Zhijian, an off-court coach, told Fan Zhendong to be firm and implement the techniques and tactics formulated before the game.
In the third set, Fan Zhendong attacked like a bamboo, leading 5:1 and maintaining the advantage until the end. Subsequently, Fan Zhendong, who was gradually in a better situation, continued to bombard his opponent with artillery fire, and the Japanese team's Uda Yukiya was forced to make more mistakes, and even after losing points, his mouth was always talking to himself, and his face showed a helpless expression.
The climax of the game came in the fourth set, the two of them fought back and forth until 14 draws, and finally Fan Zhendong successfully won the victory by relying on the superior fans. After winning the game, Fan Zhendong roared passionately, and some netizens ridiculed, "When Fan Zhendong's anger is beaten out, others will not have a chance"! In the end, Fan Zhendong successfully defeated his opponent after 6 rounds of battle to advance to the final.
(Luo Treasurer)