The 2024 Table Tennis World Cup continues, with the first men's singles 1/8 final between Lin Gaoyuan and Joczyk, and the other table for the first women's singles 1/8 final, Wang Yidi against Zhang Benmeihe. After a fierce battle, the two national table tennis players won one and lost one, Lin Gaoyuan defeated the European champion Jochik 4-2, Wang Yidi lost to Zhang Benmeihe 1-4, and the two took the lead in advancing to the top 8, namely Lin Gaoyuan in men's singles and Zhang Benmeihe in women's singles.
In the first stage of the group stage, Lin Gaoyuan won the top spot in Group 6, and Joczyk stood out in Group 12. Coming to the second stage of the knockout round, Lin Gaoyuan and Joczyk are in the same 4/4 zone, and the other two players in the same zone are Fan Zhendong and Lin Shidong. Joczyk is a famous player from Slovenia, and his overall strength is good, and in this year's European Table Tennis Singles Round of 16, Joczyk defeated Sweden's Moregard to win the championship, and completed the third consecutive championship of the event. In terms of past head-to-head records, Lin Gaoyuan is slightly ahead of Joczyk with 4 wins and 3 losses. Against players from other associations, Lin Gaoyuan was not very stable, and this battle against European champion Joczyk, Lin Gaoyuan faced a test.
After the opening, Lin Gaoyuan entered the state quickly, and took a large lead of 7-1 as soon as he came up, and Joczyk continued to chase points, but Lin Gaoyuan's advantage in the first half of the game was big enough, 11-7, Lin Gaoyuan went first. In the second game of the competition, Lin Gaoyuan won 11-8. In the third game, Joczyk was in a good situation, but Lin Gaoyuan scored consecutive points at the end of the game, scoring 5 points in a row after 6-9, and Lin Gaoyuan won another game 11-9 in a single game. In the fourth game, Lin Gaoyuan continued to control Joczyk on the landing point, but after leading 5-2, Lin Gaoyuan made consecutive mistakes, and Joczyk pulled back a game 11-7. In the fifth game, Joczyk's momentum soared, leading 7-1, Lin Gaoyuan failed to chase the score, and Joczyk chased another game 11-4.
The next sixth game is very important for Lin Gaoyuan, once Joczyk pulls three games in a row to drag the game into a deciding game, the outcome will be unpredictable! In the sixth game, Joczyk scored one point first, Lin Gaoyuan stared at the forehand short to recover a point, Joczyk scored 2 points 3-1 lead, Lin Gaoyuan still stared at Joczyk's forehand short chase two points 3-3 draw, Joczyk accelerated the pace and scored three points in a row 6-3 to re-establish the lead, Lin Gaoyuan seized the opportunity to return a wave of 3-0 to chase 6-6 draw, Joczyk 7-6 to maintain the lead, Lin Gaoyuan chased 7-7, Lin Gaoyuan 8-7 overtake, Joczyk 8-8 to tie, the key ball stage, Lin Gaoyuan withstood the pressure and scored three points in a row to win 11-8, and eliminated Joczyk with a total score of 4-2, becoming the first player to advance to the top 8 of men's singles。
Soon after, on another table, the first women's singles 1/8 finals also ended, Wang Yidi and Zhang Benmei fought fiercely for five games, Wang Yidi finally lost with a total score of 1-4, breaking an upset! Zhang Benmei and played well, 12-10 took the lead, although Wang Yidi tied the total score in the second game 11-6, but in the next three games, Zhang Benmei and 11-8, 11-6, 16-14 consecutive wins, especially at the end of the fifth game, Zhang Benmeihe was better than Wang Yidi in grasping the key points. Zhang Benmeihe eliminated Wang Yidi 4-1 and became the first player to advance to the top 8 of women's singles in this Table Tennis World Cup.