On the evening of May 26, Beijing time, the Durban World Table Tennis Championships ushered in a much-anticipated focus showdown, and the Olympic champions of the Chinese and Japanese teams - Chen Meng and Misei Ito met again in the women's singles event after three years, and Chen Meng, who had previously been undefeated for four consecutive victories, won again this time, easily swept the opponent 4-0 and advanced to the women's singles semifinals.
It is worth mentioning that Chen Meng has defeated Japanese players four times in this competition, especially Mimato Ito in women's doubles and women's singles, let's applaud her together!
The competition between Chen Meng and Ito Mimai is something that profoundly affects the pattern of women's table tennis in China, Japan and even the world during the Tokyo Olympic cycle, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is precisely because of the rise of Ito Mimai that Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling fell; It is precisely because Chen Meng defeated Mimato Ito four times in a row that he laid the foundation for his selection for the Tokyo Olympics and finally achieved the double championship.
But the dramatic thing is that Chen Meng and Mimato Ito have never played each other in the women's singles event of the world's three major tournaments (almost every time Sun Yingsha came forward to solve the battle), and they have not met for three years since 2020, and this time they are finally going to move!
After the start of the match, Chen Meng appeared very confident on the court, basically suppressed Mimato Ito, and immediately won 11-7. In the second game, Mimato Ito tried to open the situation with raw rubber, but Chen Meng was obviously quite familiar with the opponent's routine, and even if she had not played in singles for three years, she still played smoothly, and then easily went 11-5.
In the third game, Ito's counter-attack threat increased, but in the second half, the form was again soaring, Chen Meng seized the opportunity to continue to suppress his opponent, won 11-5, and forced Ito into a cornered situation with a 3-0 lead!
In the fourth game, Chen Meng's victory was in sight, Ito Mimako's resistance was ineffective, and finally lost the entire match 5-11, after the women's doubles lost to Chen Meng, the women's singles also lost to the nemesis for the fifth time: indeed can't beat!
As mentioned earlier, Chen Meng has won four consecutive victories over Japanese players in this tournament, of which the women's doubles teamed up with Wang Yidi to win Misei Ito/Hina Hayada, Miyu Kihara/Miyu Nagasaki, and the women's singles eliminated Miyu Kihara and Mimato Ito. Before that, Chen Meng had won the women's singles championship of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, and as long as the World Table Tennis Championships were crowned, she could become the 11th Grand Slam winner in the history of table tennis.
So will she get her wish? Let's cheer for Chen Meng together!