On March 16, Beijing time, the sixth matchday of the main event of the 2023 WTT Grand Slam Singapore Championship, the competition continued.
The men's singles 1/8 final ushered in a focus match, "Japanese brother" Zhang Benzhihe faced "African brother" Aruna.
Zhang Benzhihe is 19 years old, ranked fourth in the world; Aruna is 34 years old and ranked 14th in the world.
The two sides have met three times, and Zhang Benzhihe has won completely.
As the "first brother of Africa", Aruna is limited by economic conditions, and he plays alone everywhere all year round, without coaches, logistics, and team doctors, which is very difficult.
Zhang Benzhi and this year's Singapore Grand Slam men's singles stumbled a little, narrowly defeating Xiang Peng 3-2 in the first round and Akuzu 3-2 in the second round, and this round finally collapsed, 0-3 brittle defeat.
In the first game, Aruna won the first set 4-2, 4-4, 9-5, 10-6 (set point), 11-7.
Aruna is in good shape, tactically appropriate and proactive. Zhang Benzhihe was passive defensive, and his backhand could not block Aruna's full forehand.
In the second game, Aruna started 5-0, and then missed the serve, giving Zhang Ben a chance to breathe, which directly led to the loss of six consecutive points.
Zhang Ben made a mistake on serve, 6-6.
Aruna pulled backhand backhand backhand to lead again 7-6. Zhang Ben had to ask for a pause.
Aruna held a two-point lead, taking the set point 10-8.
Zhang Benzhihe served to score, 9-10.
Arunara conceded the chance and the game was tied at 10-10.
Aruna pulled straight straight sideways and won the set again at 11-10.
Zhang Ben returned the ball and brushed the edges, 11-11.
In the end, Aruna won another game 13-11 to lead 2-0.
Aruna also clenched his fists and roared, releasing his excitement.
In the third game, Zhang Ben had no way to retreat, he could only fight, and he could also use his forehand to attack.
Aruna continued their good form in the first two sets and started 4-1.
At the critical moment, Zhang Ben's forehand made consecutive mistakes, and he kept shaking his head.
Trailing 2-7, Zhang could barely get a point by relying on a basketball that wiped the net.
Aruna made consecutive serve errors, 8-6.
Aruna's serve came out, followed by a forehand and a backhand to score 9-6.
With Zhang Ben's serve error, Aruna won the match point 10-6.
Zhang Ben's forehand slammed a large diagon, and Aruna scored violently on the run, and finally Aruna won the final set 11-7, thus defeating Zhang Motokazu 3-0 and advancing to the quarterfinals of the men's singles.
Aruna firmed up his tactics, served to Zhang Ben's forehand triangle, and then decisively turned to a forehand attack, even if Zhang Ben returned the ball to the bottom line of the backhand, he was also decisively sideways and pulled back. And the quality of the return ball is very high, and it is difficult for Zhang Ben to prevent turning back.
Aruna was also very excited after the game, saying that he did not expect to win 3-0 against Tomokazu Chang, and thought that Singapore was his "blessed land". Indeed, he played well in Singapore.
Aruna will earn at least $22,500 and 350 points after winning the quarterfinals. This is a big gain for him. His next round opponent will be between Hugo and Dako.
After losing the men's singles match, at 15:30, Tomokazu Chang teamed up with Hina Hayata to challenge Sun Yingsha/Wang Chuqin for the mixed doubles title.