On March 19, Beijing time, the World Table Tennis Professional League Singapore Grand Slam men's singles ushered in the semi-final competition, the first semi-final was Fan Zhendong against Japanese teenager Yukiya Utada. This match was originally a game of great disparity in strength, but the Japanese youngster fought too fiercely, and in the end, Fan Zhendong won 4-2 to advance to the men's singles final.
Before playing against Yukiya Utada, Fan Zhendong said: "I have not played against him before, and recently Yukiya Utada has improved very quickly in both singles and doubles in international competitions, and the progress is obvious, so I am also very much looking forward to this ball. ”
In the first set, Fan Zhendong did not start well, 2-5 behind, but made timely adjustments to chase the score to 6-6, after which Fan Zhendong played more and more smoothly, winning the first set 11-9. In the second set, the Japanese youngster was too fierce, Fan Zhendong was a bit overwhelmed in the final stages of the innings, and in the end, Yukiya Utada pulled back a set 11-7, and the score was 1-1.
In the third set, Fan Zhendong professionally resolved the fight and killing style, with the changeable landing points to resolve one by one, perfectly grasped the rhythm and initiative of the game, and won another set 11-7, taking a 2-1 lead. In the fourth set, the two sides launched a tug-of-war, the two sides after 9-9, eating each other's serves, and finally with Fan Zhendong's wonderful performance, it was difficult to win 16-14, and the big score was 3-1 to take the lead.
In the fifth set, Utada Yukiya let go of a fight and continued to fight tenaciously, Fan Zhendong dared to attack and launch a long platform confrontation with the opponent in a backward situation, without fear, preventing the opponent from getting the set point to equalize strongly. But after 11-11, the Japanese teenager scored two consecutive points to win the set 13-11, and Fan Zhendong continued to lead 3-2.
In the crucial sixth set, Yukiya Utada made a perfect start 5-0, and Fan Zhendong scored 7 consecutive points in the opening 0-5 situation, what a big heart! After taking a 7-5 lead, he was equalized by his opponents, and after a 9-9 draw, Fan Zhendong stabilized the situation and finally won 11-9, defeating his opponent 4-2 with a large score to advance to the final.
In this game, Fan Zhendong had a thrilling defusion of Yukiya's impact, achieved a big reversal in the 6th set of 0-5 behind, and finally won the opponent with a big score of 4-2! Japanese youngster Yukiya Utada's high-quality fighting style of the first three boards has brought a lot of trouble to Fan Zhendong, Fan Zhendong still relies on his changeable and flexible playing style to resolve, perfectly grasp the rhythm and initiative of the game, and finally congratulate Fan Zhendong!
Fan Zhendong said in an interview after the game: "This is also the first time to play with Uda, and today we should also give him applause, he played very well today. I think it was really warm in the arena, it gave me strength and I hope to play well tomorrow. ”