The world's first Japanese team was completely destroyed! Fan Zhendong advanced to the final and locked in the qualification for the Asian Games in advance. In the men's singles semifinals of the 2022 WTT Singapore Grand Slam Tournament, Fan Zhendong, the world number one in national table tennis, played against Japan's dark horse Yukiya Utada. In the previous men's doubles final, Fan Zhendong's partner Wang Chuqin defeated the Japanese team of Yukiya Utada / Hayabusa Tokami 3-1 to win the men's doubles title, and in the men's singles semifinals, Fan Zhendong will play Yukiya Utada again.
In the first set, Yukiya Utada took the lead and led 5-2 at one point, but Fan Zhendong quickly adapted to the rhythm of the game, scoring four consecutive points to win 6-5, after which Fan Zhendong won the score with consecutive attacks and won the first set 11-9. In the second set, the two were still very fierce in the opening stages, when the score was 5-5, Utada Yukiya scored 5 consecutive points to get the set points 10-5, although Fan Zhendong chased 2 innings in a row, but Utada Yukiya still won a set back 11-5. In the third set, Fan Zhendong stepped up his offensive attack and started 6-1, and then Yukiya Utada chased 3 points in a row, but Fan Zhendong stabilized the situation in time, pulled the score apart again, and won another set at 11-7, leading 2-1 on aggregate. In the fourth set, Utada Yukiya began to fight, starting with 3-1, and then Fan Zhendong overtook 8-5, but Utah Yukiya played very tenaciously, and forced the score to be drawn to 9-9, after which Utada Yukiya also got the set point 10-9, but Fan Zhendong did not give up easily, the two entered the battle, the score once became a 14-14 draw, at the critical moment, Fan Zhendong scored 2 consecutive points to win this set 16-14.
In the fifth set, the competition between the two has entered a white-hot stage, when Fan Zhendong chased the score to 7-8, Utada Yukiya called a timeout, and when he returned, the two fought again, but Utah Yukiya got the key points and won another set at 13-11. In the sixth set, Yukiya Utada scored 5 points in a row, and then Fan Zhendong launched an attack, scoring 7 consecutive points to win, and finally Fan Zhendong locked up the victory 11-9, thus winning 4-2 on aggregate, taking the lead in advancing to the final and will impact the Grand Slam double. With Yukiya Utada out, the Japanese team was completely destroyed.
Previously, the national table tennis announced the selection criteria of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the singles world first and the Grand Slam singles champion will be qualified for the Asian Games singles, Fan Zhendong is now in the first place in the world ranking, plus the points obtained in this Grand Slam, Fan Zhendong will continue to rank first in the world, so whether Fan Zhendong can get the Grand Slam men's singles championship, he has locked the men's singles qualification for the Hangzhou Asian Games in advance.