In the early morning of May 27, Beijing time, in the women's singles 1/4 final of the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships in South Africa, Wang Yidi of the Chinese team played against Hina Hayata of Japan. After 7 hard fights, world No. 3 Wang Yidi lost 3-4 to No. 10 Hina Hayada, missing the semifinals. In the final moments of the tiebreaker, the two sides fought until 21-19, and Wang Yidi lost the seven games, the scores were 11-4, 3-11, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 and 19-21.
The 26-year-old Wang Yidi, ranked No. 3 in the world, is the fourth seed in this tournament. A few hours ago, Wang Yidi and Chen Meng teamed up to defeat the Japanese pair Miyu Nagasaki / Miyu Kihara 3-1 in the women's doubles semifinals. The 22-year-old Hina Hayada, ranked 10th in the world, is the No. 7 seed in this tournament. Not long ago, Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Zhang played the mixed doubles final, and they lost 3-0 to Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha. Wang Yidi and Hina Hayata have met twice in history, and Wang Yidi won completely.
In the first game, Wang Yidi took a 4-0 lead at the beginning, and then she maintained her advantage to lead 8-3. After giving Hina Hayata another point, Wang Yidi scored three consecutive points to easily win the first set 11-4, leading Hina Hayata 1-0.
In the second game, Hina Hayata scored the first point, and Wang Yidi scored three points in a row. But since then, Wang Yidi has been in a state without mistakes, so that Hina Hayata scored 10 points in a row! In the end, Hina Hayata won the second set 11-3, and the two sides drew 1-1.
In the third set, Hina Hayata led 3-1 in the opening set, and after a spectacular multi-shot tie, Hina Wasata extended the score to 6-2. Wang Yidi quickly adjusted his form, chased the score to a 6-6 draw, and continued to score to win 7-6. After a 9-9 draw, Hina Hayata took the first set point and won the third set 11-9 to lead Wang Yidi 2-1.
In the fourth game, Wang Yidi took a 3-0 lead in the opening game and maintained the advantage of the score. Halfway through the match, Wang Yidi led Hina Hayata 8-5. With Hina Hayata returning the ball, Wang Yidi won the set point 10-6. She wasted no chance, winning the fourth set 11-6, drawing 2-2.
In the fifth game, the two sides had a wonderful multi-shot match at the beginning, and Wang Yidi had the last laugh. Hina Hayata led slightly in the opening period and maintained her advantage all the time. Wang Yidi tenaciously chased the score and finally chased 8-8 draws. After a 9-9 draw, Hina Hayata scored another point to win the fifth set 11-9, leading Wang Yidi 3-2.
In the sixth game, the two sides opened the game 3-3, then 5-5. When Hina Hayata led 6-5, Wang Yidi called a timeout. Coming back from a timeout, Hina Hayata scored two more points, but Wang Yidi tenaciously chased the score to an 8-8 tie and then went 9-8. Next, Wang Yidi scored the set point and scored another point to win the sixth set 11-8, and the two sides drew 3-3.
In the tiebreaker, Hina Hayata came up to take a 3-0 lead and maintained the lead until the middle of the match. Wang Yidi worked hard to chase the score and finally chased the score to 8-8. Next, Wang Yidi scored two consecutive points to get the match point, and Hina Hayata saved the two match points, and the two sides tied 10-10. The final moments of the match were suffocating, with Wang Yidi winning consecutive match points and Hina Hayata saving consecutive match points, who saved six match points and won his match point 15-14. Wang Yidi also saved the match point and went on to reclaim the match point, and after 19 draws, Hina Hayata withstood the pressure to score two consecutive points, and won the tiebreaker 21-19, eventually eliminating Wang Yidi 4-3 and advancing to the semifinals. After the victory, Hina Hayata cried with emotion.