The 2024 Spanish Badminton Masters came to an end, with the Indonesian team winning two golds and one silver to become the top winners of the event, and the national team only won one silver medal without gold. Although the national feather team failed to win the gold medal, the new national feather mixed doubles combination Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi won one gold, one silver and one quarterfinals in the European tour, which still became a surprise.
As we all know, the Tokyo Olympic cycle of the national feather mixed doubles has Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping two pairs of ace combinations, they all have super strength and excellent records, is the national feather mixed doubles to win gold and silver guarantee, "IELTS", "Yellow Duck" has become the nickname of these two pairs. After Wang Yilu retired due to injury in the Paris cycle, Huang Dongping changed to partner with Feng Yanzhe to form a new Phoenix combination, but the Phoenix combination has not reached the height of Yellow Duck for the time being. After the Paris Olympics, Zheng Siwei, Huang Yaqiong, and Huang Dongping are coming to the end of their careers, who can take over IELTS and Yellow Duck at this time?
Since last year, Guoyu has begun to promote newcomers, and in mixed doubles, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, Cheng Xing/Chen Fanghui are the key training objects. After tempering, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin have risen to fifth in the world rankings, and have firmly established themselves in the first group, with great potential to succeed IELTS and Yellow Duck, if there are no surprises, the Sauce Duck combination will become a pair of mixed doubles in the next Olympic cycle. However, compared with Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, although Cheng Xing/Chen Fanghui's highest world ranking has also reached 24th, the two have not had too good results, and they have not even reached the top podium in a super race, so from this season, the Cheng Xing/Chen Fanghui pair has been dismantled, Chen Fanghui has temporarily stayed away from the international arena, and Cheng Xing's partner has been replaced by Zhang Chi, a partner in the youth team.
Although Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi had the experience of working together in the youth team, after all, Zhang Chi later specialized in women's doubles and had already given up mixed doubles, so the two did not play or perform after they joined forces again. In the first stop of the new season, the Malaysia Open (Super 1000), Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi was sent to the first round by Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, and they suffered a blow as soon as they joined forces. In the second stop of the Super 750 India Open, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi, who passed the first round, was sent to the second round by Wu Xunvalve/Lai Jiemin. In the third Super 500 Indonesia Badminton Masters, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi once again stopped in the first round, and in the fourth Super 300 Thailand Masters, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi stopped in the second round. Throughout January, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi suffered a series of critical attacks in the Asian arena, could it be that the two teamed up a mistake, and the adjustment of the national feather was unsuccessful?
After a brief break in February, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi returned to the European arena in March, this time in a relatively low-level event. At the Super 300 Orleans Masters, after the run-in of the previous races, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi suddenly broke out, all the way to the final, and then defeated the world No. 17 Indonesian pair Rivaldi/Mentari with an aggregate score of 2-1 to win the first championship since the partnership, which is also the first time that the two have stood on the top podium of the Super Series, and both have completed a new breakthrough in their careers. At the Swiss Open (Super 300), although Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi failed to reach the final for two consecutive weeks, they also defeated the strong Deyang/Wei Dejiajia to enter the quarterfinals. After switching to the Spanish Masters (Super 300), Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi once again let people witness their potential.
In the first round of the Spanish Masters, world No. 58 Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi sent No. 3 seeds and world No. 13 Malaysian pair Goh Xun Valve/Lai Jie Min to a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) upset, successfully avenging and advancing to the round of 16. In the quarter-finals, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi were challenged but still had a thrilling 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) victory over the world's No. 80 Indonesian pair Hidayatola/Pranata. On the way to the semi-finals, facing the world No. 36 Chinese Taipei pair Zhang Xueqi/Li Zhizhen, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi won two straight games 23-21, 21-18. In the semi-finals, they faced the world No. 14 pair of France's Gicquel/Del Rue, while Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi lost the first game 10-21 and then made it 21-19 to advance to the final. Although Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi took the lead 21-17 in the final against the No. 6 seeds Rivaldi/Mentari, they fell into passivity and finally lost two games in a row 12-21, 13-21.
Although Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi was the runner-up at the Spanish Masters, he won one championship and one runner-up in the last three tournaments, and also defeated many pairs of powerful combinations. Zhang Chi still has many problems, the tacit understanding between each other still needs to be improved, the overall strength is still insufficient, and the skills and tactics also need to be improved, but their rising speed is obvious to all, and such a pair has the shadow of IELTS and Yellow Duck. If it continues to improve, Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi is fully capable of keeping up with Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, these two pairs will become another pair of super first-class mixed doubles and gold medal guarantee after Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong and Wang Yilu/Huang Dongping, will it be far away?