The first round of the WTT Star Challenge Doha Singles Qualifiers featured two Sino-Japanese matches. One was Zhou Qihao against Yuji Tanaka, and the other was Chen Yi against Zhang Benmeihe.
Zhou Qihao, like Lin Gaoyuan, is a typical layman in foreign wars, losing foreign wars many times, and has appeared many times in one round of international competitions. This time against Yuji Tanaka, Zhou Qihao finally did not drop the chain. He defeated Yuki Tanaka 3-1.
In the first set, Zhou Qihao won easily 11:4. In the second set, Zhou Qihao was resisted, and Yuji Tanaka played well to win the set back 11:9. In the third set, Zhou Qihao took the initiative and won another set 11:8 to lead 2-1. In the fourth set, the two played a difficult score, the two played a high score, Zhou Qihao won 13:11. Fortunately, in the fourth set Zhou Qihao won. Otherwise, with the characteristics of his nerve knife, he would not have won the fifth set. Zhou Qihao also escaped a disaster.
Another women's singles match was played by Chen Yi against Zhang Benzhihe's sister Zhang Benmeihe. Since entering the table tennis world, Zhang Ben's brothers and sisters have been attracting the attention of the majority of fans. Meihe Zhang has won many international championships in youth competitions and many times in competitions throughout Japan. Zhang Benmeihe, 13, began competing in the senior group. Her game has been in the spotlight all along. Although he is still very young, he plays very steadily and has a mature mind. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she's playing a lot of games.
In this match with Chen Yi, Zhang Benmei won very easily. She defeated Chen Yi 3-0, with three sets of 11:6, 11:9 and 11:6. Although we do not want to see such a result, we have to admit that Chen Yi is really not Zhang Benmeihe's opponent.
Chen Yi was born in 2004, 4 years older than Zhang Benmeihe. Speaking of Chen Yi, he can also be regarded as a young celebrity. Chen Yi won the Singles Championship of the National Junior Championship (Southern Division) in 2016 and the second round robin championship of the National Outstanding Youth Training In 2018. In June 2018, Chen Yi entered the national second team. In September 2019, Chen Yi won the ITTF Junior Open U15 Women's Singles Championship. In 2020, 16-year-old Chen Yi performed well in the Olympic simulation competition and was promoted to the national first team. This is relatively rare in the talented national table tennis team.
Chen Yi is tall at 1 meter 77, with a large area of protective platform, a wide offensive range, and good ball skills, so he is heavily weighted by the national table tennis coaching team. Unexpectedly, in this match with Zhang Benmeihe, Chen Yi performed very generally. The main reason is that the offensive thinking is simple, there are few changes, and there are more unnecessary mistakes. And her speed is relatively slow, and it is easy to be controlled by the fast Zhang Benmei and the rhythm. Chen Yi couldn't keep up with Zhang Benmeihe's speed. Zhang Benmeihe can exert his skills to the fullest, and can take the initiative to change the line, resulting in Chen Yi not being able to keep up with the rhythm, tired of coping, and there will be more active mistakes. Either the return ball is introduced, or the return ball is released into the net. The powerful platform protection ability lost its effect in front of Zhang Benmeihe. It seems that Chen Yi still has to find a way to improve his ability, and at the same time play more games to improve the experience of the game.
Zhang Benmeihe participated in several adult group competitions this year. She has beaten Ziffy, a 21-year-old member of the national table tennis team. And Zhang Benmeihe also defeated Singapore veteran Feng Tianwei. Feng Tianwei's level is very high, and she was defeated by Zhang Benmeihe's shooting. I have to say that Zhang Benmeihe has two brushes.
However, Zhang Benmei and Zhang Rui, a national table tennis player, met twice and lost. Zhang Benmei and Zhang Rui were slightly immature in front of Zhang Rui. However, Zhang Rui did not win easily, one was 3-1, and the other was 4-3.
In general, Zhang Benmeihe's level is relatively high, and the basic skills are very solid. She now lacks experience in international competitions, especially with adults. I don't know what level she will reach in the future, but the national table tennis must pay attention to her. If not, Zhang Benmeihe will surpass Ito Mimako and become the biggest rival of Chinese women's table tennis.