In the men's singles quarterfinals of the WTT Finals recently held in Doha, Qatar, Wang Chuqin, an outstanding player from the mainland, faced Japan's Tomokazu Zhangmoto, and the two young men, both of whom are post-millennials, had a fierce duel on the court. Wang Chuqin played steadily as the world's No. 2 ranking, beating Tomokazu Zhangmoto, and easily won with an absolute advantage of 3-0 in total, fully demonstrating his excellent skill level and extraordinary international top player strength, and successfully entered the men's singles semifinals.
Wang Chuqin and Zhang Benzhihe are both outstanding rookies born after the 2000s, with incomparable talent and outstanding strength. In order to sharpen the young players, the Japanese table tennis team has implemented a unique "Breaking Generations Project", which allows young players such as Tomokazu Haramoto and Misei Ito to participate in the adult category at the age of 14 or 15. This unique approach allows young athletes to show their full potential to compete with adult athletes at an early age.
As teenagers, Wang Chuqin and Zhang Benzhihe have become indispensable opponents of each other in the Circle. The two have been competing frequently in junior events, with Wang Chuqin having the upper hand with a good record of 7 wins and 2 losses. This undoubtedly shows that Wang Chuqin has shown outstanding competitive strength in his youth, and at the same time, through continuous competition training and in-depth training, he has gradually expanded his lead over Tomokazu Zhangmoto. As the match began, Wang Chuqin quickly got into the groove, showing significant service excellence and always maintaining a slim attitude. However, at the end of the crucial game, Zhang Benzhihe counterattacked vigorously and forced the score to a 9-9 draw. In such a tense atmosphere, Wang Chuqin showed tenacity and psychological quality, even if there was a mistake in the service link that caused Tomokazu Zhang to grab the match point, he was still able to remain calm, relying on superb offensive and defensive skills, and finally overcame the crisis 12-10 to win the first game.
Coming to the second round of the match, the fierce battle between the two sides intensified. Wang Chuqin performed well at the critical moment, winning the first game 11-8 and leading Tomokazu Zhang in the standings 2-0. In the third game that followed, Wang Chuqin used an extremely precise serving strategy and repeatedly sent the ball smoothly to Tomokazu Zhangmoto's forehand triangle area. This tactic made Tomokazu Zhang feel a lot of pressure to deal with, and he was unable to fight effectively, and the score even reached a 4-1 lead at one point.
Looking at the overall situation, although Zhang Benzhihe's forehand offensive ability has improved, he is still in trouble in the face of Wang Chuqin's all-round suppression. Wang Chuqin's excellent serve, offensive and defensive ability successfully grasped the course of the match, which confirmed his extraordinary strength and forward-looking strategic thinking as an elite player in the world. In the fierce battle between Wang Chuqin and Zhang Benzhihe, what we saw was not only a confrontation at the technical level, but also a smart game of tactical use and decision-making judgment. Wang Chuqin's performance in this game is undoubtedly eye-catching, and his tactical literacy and flexibility have been fully reflected.
At the beginning of the first game, Wang Chuqin immediately showed his unique serving strategy. He opted to send a shot that was deflected towards a forehand triangle, and such a subtle strategy put Zhang under tremendous pressure on his backhand defense. This is because the design of this ball path usually tempts the opponent to adjust his feet when receiving the ball, thus disrupting the opponent's original rhythm. Immediately afterwards, Wang Chuqin sent another ball with strong downspin, forcing Zhang to be unable to rub the ball directly over the net, which made Zhang appear a little passive in the return link.
In addition to the strategy of serving, Wang Chuqin also skillfully used the advantage of his left hand to tear the ball to the large angle area of Tomokazu Zhangmoto's forehand. Although Tomokazu Zhangmoto's right-handed forehand technique has improved significantly, his main offensive means still tend to be high-hanging. Wang Chuqin saw this well, and he quickly launched a counterattack with a left-handed backhand, hitting the ball into the opponent's forehand area. In this move, Zhang's advantage in the original forehand attack was weakened, and he had to move to a backhand position that he was not proficient in.
Throughout the game, it can be seen that Wang Chuqin's tactical adjustment was quite successful. Not only did he put Tomokazu in trouble on serve and return, but he also continued to put pressure on his opponent's backhand with his nimble pace and sharp attack. In contrast, Zhang was unable to exert his forehand advantage and fell into the dilemma of constantly dealing with Wang Chuqin's backhand attack. This tactical advantage allowed Wang Chuqin to easily win 11-6 in the third game, and finally won the match with a disparity of 3-0 and successfully advanced to the men's singles semifinals. In the subsequent finals stage, Wang Chuqin's fortune can be described as full of thorns. He first faced France's Julien Lebrun in the opening round, and he was solid enough to win. However, in the second round, he met his arch-rival Tomokazu Harimoto, and it was undoubtedly a high-profile matchup. However, Wang Chuqin showed extraordinary strength and tenacity, and he defeated the Japanese brother with a score of 3-0, thus announcing the return of his strong fighting power and excellent form.
The excellent performance of these two events is enough to prove that Wang Chuqin's strength is extremely strong, and his comprehensive competitive state is also significantly better than Fan Zhendong. This certainly makes people look forward to the events ahead. In the upcoming match, he will face Germany's Qiu Dang, who knocked out Liang Jingkun 3-2 in his previous match, which is a clear indication of his quality.
Whatever the case may be, however, Wang will need to go all out to deal with this tough opponent. The semi-finals will be played in a best-of-seven format, which means that there will be relatively few variables in the course of the match, so the conditions required to win will become more stringent, requiring participants to have a deeper reserve of strength and extraordinary competitive form. For Wang Chuqin, challenging Qiu Dang will be a difficult and challenging task, but it is also a great opportunity to show his strength. In the lower half of Wang's guard, his teammates Lin Gaoyuan and Fan Zhendong have reached the semi-finals, relieving his competitive pressure to a certain extent. However, he still needs to give it his all to win every game, stick to his own half, and lay a solid foundation for the title.