From April 23 to 28, the seven-day WTT Star Challenge 2023 has concluded six days of contention, from qualifying to semi-finals.
On April 28, the men's and women's singles quarterfinals were played in the afternoon, followed by the mixed doubles final in the evening, followed by four singles semifinals.
In the mixed doubles final, the "Gao Xing" combination of Lin Gaoyuan/Chen Xingtong fought back when the score was 0-2 behind, won three consecutive games, and won the mixed doubles championship (-7, -9, 9, 6, 8) 3-2, and "Gao Xing" finally became happy.
I originally thought it would be an easy match, but I didn't expect that the Korean combination was in excellent condition after the opening; Coupled with Chen Xingtong and Lin Gaoyuan's three matches a day in a row, they just played the singles 1/4 final in the afternoon, and they also have to consider that there are singles semifinals after the mixed doubles final, which inevitably has certain reservations about physical distribution and state transfer. One has no reservations, the other has reservations, the two sides are compared, the first two and a half games of the Korean combination are playing vigorously, and the "Gao Xing" combination has always been suppressed.
It was not until the third game that it was 1-6 behind that the national table tennis team made up its mind to finish this game without reservation. As expected, the third game was reversed, and the fourth and fifth games did not give the opponent a chance to flip at all.
Compared with the absolute strength of the mixed doubles combination of China and South Korea, the "Gao Xing" combination is definitely a higher level, but the opening is slow and hot, and it has forced itself to a corner.
Before the match, some netizens asked me who I would like to advance to the final of the men's and women's singles? Although I knew that this kind of thing was easy to slap in the face, I still answered: Lin Gaoyuan VS Carlberg, Chen Xingtong VS Zhu Qianxi, and I thought that Chen Xingtong would encounter greater challenges.
As a result, only 3 of the 4 people were guessed correctly, and Karlberg looked away.
Women's singles semifinals
Zhu Qianxi 3-1 Miyu Nagasaki
The scores of the four games were: 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8.
The two are similar in age (Zhu Qianxi 21 years old, Nagasaki Miyu 20 years old) and have close world rankings (Nagasaki Miyu is 35th in the world, Zhu Qianxi is 38th).
But personally, I feel that the growth of Nagasaki Miyu has reached its peak, and Zhu Qianxi has just begun. Zhu Qianxi is a player who can be ranked in the top fifteen in the world.
If there is no absolute veneer quality, it will be difficult to hard bar Zhu Qianxi based on speed alone. She has a fast forehand and backhand connection, and has excellent landing awareness, and is a player who is good at playing with her brain.
Chen Xingtong 3-2 Diaz
Five-set scores: 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-4.
I guessed that Chen Xingtong would face a great challenge from Diaz, because Diaz had the ability to create difficulties for her.
If Diaz makes fewer mistakes and has better emotional control, it is an out-of-association version of Wang Yidi. Her veneers have quality, strength, speed, but the details need constant correction, including emotion management. The more perfect she is in detail, the more comprehensive her level can be improved. Obviously, Diaz has improved a lot in the past year, and she is only one step away from the world's top ten.
But I didn't expect Chen Xingtong to fully mobilize himself in the first game and win the first game first. Slow heating turned out to be Chen Xingtong's "standard".
The two sides presented a high-level matchup, with the level of a final.
Fight to the tiebreaker, the competition is who is more stable and who makes fewer mistakes. And Chen Xingtong obviously did much better in this regard.
Men's singles semifinals
Lin Gaoyuan 3-0 Yuan Licen
Three sets: 11-7, 11-6, 14-12.
Yuan Licen did not dare to fight in the face of his senior brother, lacked enough self-confidence and courage to challenge, and lost a little bit.
Zhang Yuzhen 3-0 Kalberg
Three sets: 11-8, 11-9, 11-5.
I guessed the result of this game wrong. The main reason may be that I don't have a good impression of Koreans, and emotional thinking affects my final judgment.
I thought that Karberg's backhand had a certain advantage, and the speed could suppress Zhang Yuzhen, but I didn't expect that Karberg's advantage did not play out, but was beaten by Zhang Yuzhen's sideways forehand attack, often "passing a board", and finally let Karberg keep a clean sheet.
On the last match day of the 29th, only four finals remained, including men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles. Among them, the men's singles and women's singles finals are both best-of-seven games, while the men's doubles and women's doubles are still five-game best-of-five.
The four finals were all participated by national table tennis players, and they were all competitions between national table tennis and foreign associations, three of which were "China-South Korea Showdown".
April 29 Schedule:
Women's singles final: Chen Xingtong VS Zhu Qianxi, match time: 19:00
Zhu Qianxi was able to force Sun Yingsha to the tiebreaker, which was that Guoping did not know much about her before. Now that she has the experience of fighting, the national table tennis will definitely have certain targeted tactics for her before the game. As long as Chen Xingtong is not slow and hot, playing normally, the winning surface is still very large.
Men's singles final: Lin Gaoyuan VS Zhang Yuzhen, match time: 19:45
The two sides have previously won and lost each other. Lin Gaoyuan has a strong backhand, Zhang Yuzhen has a sharp forehand; Lin Gaoyuan is a left-handed player, Zhang Yuzhen is a right-handed grip, and the duel between one left and one right is very interesting.
Women's doubles final: Qu Man/Chen Xingtong VS Li Yuzhen/Zheng Yijing, match time: 20:30
Li Yuzhen/Zheng Yijing fought hard to eliminate the Japanese pair Miyu Kihara/Miyu Nagasaki in five sets and advance to the final, which is already very difficult.
Although Kuman / Chen Xingtong does not cooperate much, both are doubles masters, and after the run-in of the previous few matches, they are now quite tacit. In this game, the national table tennis combination won a lot.
Men's doubles final: Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong VS Lin Zhongxun/Zhang Yuzhen, match time: 21:05
It's an uphill battle.
Who do you like to win?