On March 22, 2022, the table tennis Doha Challenge continued, the first 16 seats of the national table tennis men's singles were released, the straight board star Zhao Zihao defeated Chinese Taipei's Zhuang Zhiyuan 3-1 to advance, Zhuang Zhiyuan once won the World Table Tennis Championship doubles championship, in addition, Xu Haidong and Qian Tianyi temporarily withdrew from the competition, triggering heated discussion among outside fans, indeed the current schedule is too tight, especially easy to cause injuries.
Zhao Zihao, a straight board star, once won the year-end finals men's singles runner-up, when he lost to Fan Zhendong in the final, just before the Doha side game, Zhao Zihao defeated his teammate Yuan Licen 4-0, won the men's singles championship and scored 150 points, this time the main players were absent, Zhao Zihao was the only seeded player in the men's singles event of national table tennis, the first round against Chinese Taipei's zhuang Zhiyuan, this game was concerned by fans.
Zhuang Zhiyuan once partnered Chen Jianan to win the world table tennis men's doubles championship, 40 years old is still active in the world table tennis, has a certain competitiveness, both have their own advantages, Zhuang Zhiyuan has rich experience in the competition, technical and tactical changes, Zhao Zihao snowboard quality is high, physical fitness is relatively better, in fact, the strength gap between the two sides is not large, there is a chance to eliminate the opponent to advance to the top 16, the victory or defeat all depends on the on-site play.
In the first set Zhuang Zhiyuan was a bit slow and hot, Zhao Zihao took advantage of the situation to chase, and soon opened the point difference to 8-2, then Zhao Zihao blasted out 11-2 to take the lead first, and in the second set Zhuang Zhiyuan strengthened the attack, through the change of rhythm to limit Zhao Zihao's attack, to take an 8-5 lead, Zhao Zihao chased the points continuously, Zhuang Zhiyuan stabilized his position, equalized the score at 11-8, Zhao Zihao fell into a bitter battle, Zhuang Zhiyuan's playing style was indeed difficult.
In the third set, both sides scored 1 point each, Zhuang Zhiyuan suddenly dropped the line, Zhao Zihao scored 10 points in a row, blasted out an 11-1 quick win, in the fourth set Zhao Zihao took a 5-3 lead, Zhuang Zhiyuan chased to 8 draws, Zhao Zihao called a timeout, after returning Zhao Zihao got the match point 10-9, Zhuang Zhiyuan returned to the net, Zhao Zihao locked up the victory 11-9, and finally eliminated Zhuang Zhiyuan 3-1 and advanced to the men's singles round of 16, which was the first win in the men's singles main tournament of national table tennis.
Next Zhao Zihao against Denmark's brother Gross, competing for the men's singles quarterfinals seat, Gross 3-1 victory over Sweden's famous Falke, Gross once defeated the national table tennis teenager Xiang Peng in the Grand Slam, is a rival that should not be underestimated, Falke won the men's singles runner-up and the men's doubles championship in the two World Table Tennis Championships, but the on-the-spot play is very unstable, often upset by unexpected players, eliminated in the first round.
The two members of the national table tennis team withdrew, and the men's singles Xu Haidong won consecutively Against Zhou Qihao and Xu Yingbin to enter the main game, but finally chose to give up, Qian Tianyi could not continue to play because of a waist injury, which many fans felt sorry for, hoping that they would recover as soon as possible and return to the field as soon as possible.