On January 3, 2024, the table tennis men's finals continued, four seats were decided in the quarterfinals of singles, the national table tennis won 2 wins and 1 loss, Fan Zhendong and Liang Jingkun continued to advance, Lin Shidong regretted to be out, and the lone brave Aruna reversed Calderano and eliminated the world's fifth in the first round.
Just before the end of the game, the three players advanced to the quarterfinals, Liang Jingkun defeated Chinese Taipei star Lin Yunru 3-1, German player Qiu Dang eliminated the national table tennis teenager Lin Shidong 3-2, and the African brother Aruna reversed the Brazilian star Calderano 3-2, the most unexpected of which was Aruna, 0-2 behind three games in a row, and all won in key points, the process can be described as thrilling, and the competitive spirit is admirable.
The fourth top seed debuted, the world's No. 1 Fan Zhendong played, the opponent is the Slovenian star Darko, Fan Zhendong has absolute strength, last year's World Table Tennis Championships won the men's singles, men's doubles two championships, and now continue to do both, and Wang Chuqin teamed up, by the outside fans optimistic about creating new achievements, during this time Fan Zhendong is actively preparing for the game, so the preparation is very sufficient, everyone is full of confidence in him.
Darko is the top master in European table tennis, ranked 14th in the men's singles world, and once defeated Liang Jingkun, the main player of the national table tennis team, Darko's backhand is very threatening, the quality is extremely high and the speed is fast, but the first three boards are too rough, and the forehand is weaker, and Fan Zhendong has a big gap, but this is still a little difficult, after all, Darko has been famous for a long time and has a lot of experience, so the coaching staff can not be careless.
After the start of the game, Fan Zhendong was not in the first game, there was no way to take Darko's backhand, and the formation of a hold was always the other party's line, completely did not adapt to the rhythm of the first three boards, and he also made unnecessary mistakes, Darko took the lead in an all-round way, taking the lead with 11-7, and Fan Zhendong stabilized his position in the second game, playing more firmly, Dakko's on-the-spot adaptability was not good, Fan Zhendong obviously regained his senses and pulled back a game with 11-7.
In the third game, the two sides played back and forth, testing their comprehensive strength, Fan Zhendong always maintained the lead, but Darko was also very tenacious, resulting in a relatively close point difference, Fan Zhendong led 9-6, and then won another game 11-7, in the face of Fan Zhendong's flexibility, Darko did not have a very good coping strategy, and it was difficult to improve the quality of the backhand twist, and the off-court guidance of national table tennis was Wang Hao, encouraging the players to be more active.
In the fourth game, Fan Zhendong led 7-6, Darko called a timeout, after coming back, Fan Zhendong wasted many match points, failed to seize the opportunity at the critical moment, Darko won 19-17, Fan Zhendong fell behind 5-7 in the decisive game, ended the game 11-8, and finally reversed Darko 3-2, the process can be described as thrilling, Fan Zhendong withstood the pressure and became the second national table tennis player to advance to the quarterfinals, and the opponent in the next round is Aruna.