On March 28, 2022, the table tennis Doha Star Match continued, the national table tennis 00 youngster Yuan Lichen challenged Germany's three singles Francesca to compete for the men's singles round of 16 seats, after both sides won a set, Yuan Lichen lost two consecutive sets, and finally lost 1-3 to Francesca.
Yuan Licen is 21 years old, ranked 264th in the world, he has defeated Olympic champion Ma Long twice in the team competition, received more fan attention, in the Doha regional competition, Yuan Licen lost to Zhao Zihao, won the men's singles runner-up, Doha Challenge Yuan Lichen a black to the end, won the men's singles championship, this time Yuan Lichen qualified, won four consecutive promotions, challenged the seeded player Germany star Francesca.
Francesca is the German men's team No. 3 singles, second only to the two world champions Pol and Ochalov, once defeated Fan Zhendong, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun and other national table tennis celebrities, eliminated Xu Xin in the Grand Slam, last year's Olympic Games with the team won the team silver medal, Francesca middle and far platform strong ability, backhand quality high speed, is a more difficult player, Yuan Lichen this is not easy to play.
Both have their own advantages, Francesca is experienced and good at holding each other in the middle and far stage, Yuan Lichen is young and has momentum, the strength of the first three boards is stronger, it depends on who can do better, successfully suppress the opponent, the first set of both sides scored 3 points, Francesca stepped up the offensive, scored 4 points in a row to lead 7-3, Yuan Lichen chased 6-7, the audience had flash to interfere with the game, Francesca complained.
After the referee processed, the game continued, Francesca took the lead 11-9, as long as the middle and far platforms were held, basically Francesca was dominant, Yuan Lichen was more passive, or through the short ball in the stage, try to control the rhythm of the opponent.
In the second set, Yuan Licen broke through from the middle position consecutively, taking a 3-1 lead, Francesca chased 2 points and 3 draws, the two sides fell into a battle, the score alternately rose, the performance of Yuan Licen on the first three boards was more stable, the difference in points was 9-6, Yuan Lichen got the set point 10-8, Francesca scored, Yuan Lichen called a timeout, and came back to equalize at 11-9, the two were similar in strength, all depending on the on-field play.
In the third set, Francesca improved the quality of the single board, scored 3 consecutive points to establish a lead, both sides scored 7 points each, Francesca won the set point 10-7, followed by an 11-8 victory, Yuan Lichen chose to fight with Francesca hard, but his ability to hold each other was not as good as his opponents.
In the fourth set, Yuan Licen fought backwaters and took a 3-1 lead, Francesca stepped up the offensive, scored 8 consecutive points to 9-3, and then blasted out 11-4 to lock in the victory, and finally eliminated Yuan Licen 3-1 and advanced to the men's singles round of 16, the national table tennis men's singles suffered the first defeat in the main tournament, yuan Lichen was eliminated.