The ITTF Singles World Cup men's singles 1/8 finals ushered in a key battle, with national table tennis player Ma Long facing French teenager F. Lebrun.
Ma Long defeated F. Lebrun 4-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of men's singles. Two players have advanced to the quarterfinals. The other is Lin Gaoyuan. It's a pity that Wang Yidi lost to Zhang Benmeihe 1-4 and missed the women's singles quarterfinals.
Both are very strong athletes. Ma Long has achieved a double Grand Slam and is ranked 5th in the world. Ma Long is old, 35 years old, and his physical strength is a little unable to keep up. F. Lebrun is very young, only 17 years old, and is ranked fifth in the world, one place lower than Malone. F. Lebrun is a strange ball play, there are not a lot of rules, that is, fast, dare to fight, whether it is an opportunity or not, dare to fight. He plays like this, it's easy to score, it's easy to make mistakes, and it's easy to lose points.
In the first game, Malone made a 2:0 start and was tied by the opponent with 2 points in a row. Malone scored another 3-pointer in a row to take the lead again. F. Lebrun chased the score to 6:7 and was only 1 point behind. Malone scored 3 points in a row to get a game point. Both sides scored 1 point each, and Malone won the first game 11-7.
In the second game, Malone took a 3:2 lead, and F. Lebrun scored three points in a row to overtake the score. F. Lebrun continued to score, leading Malone 7:4. Malone broke out and scored 6 points in a row to get a game point. The two sides scored one more point each, and Malone won another game 11:8. F. Lebrun is like this, if you play smoothly, you can score points in a row, but once you don't play well and your mentality is unstable, you don't know how to play, and you can lose a lot of points in a row.
In the third game, Malone took a 4-1 lead. F. Lebrun called a timeout. After F. Lebrun scored, Malone scored two more points in a row to lead F. Lebrun 6:2. F. Lebrun scored nine points in a row to pull back the game at 11:6. F. Lebrun's character is vividly displayed, one time in the sky, one time underground.
In the fourth game, F. Lebrun took a 3:1 lead, and Malone scored 5 points in a row to overtake the score. After F. Lebrun scored in a straight line, Malone scored two more points in a row to lead F. Lebrun 8:4. The latter two fell into a stalemate. Malone held on to the lead and won the game 11-8.
The fifth game started very closely, and the score was very tight. F. Lebrun took a 6:4 lead. Malone scored 3 points in a row to overtake. F. Lebrun scored four points in a row to get a game point. Ma Long fought successfully and chased 1 point, but unfortunately it was late. F. Lebrun scored a straight backhand to win the game 11-8.
In the sixth game, F. Lebrun started 2:1, and Malone scored 3 points in a row to overtake. F. Lebrun fought hard and chased to 6 draws. After both sides scored 2 points each, Malone scored 2 points in a row to get the match point at 10:8. F. Lebrun played a sideline ball, which Malone did not catch. However, the referee thought that the ball was on the bottom of the ball, and it was for Malone to score. Judging from the replay, it is really at the bottom of the grip.
F. Lebrun also did not argue. Malone won the game 11-8. If F. Lebrun had played a little higher, the result would have been difficult to say.
Malone defeated F. Lebrun 4-2 and advanced to the men's singles final. Malone was very low-key and didn't celebrate too much.
Although F. Lebrun lost, he showed good strength. We must pay attention to this young player. Especially at this year's Paris Olympics, he is at home, and I don't know what level he will play.