On April 20, in the semifinals of the Macau World Cup, Ma Long played a textbook game against Wang Chuqin.
Wang Chuqin is now ranked No. 1 in the world, and Ma Long should have been at a disadvantage for a long time in the match between the two sides. No one thought that Ma Long would eat all over the world with one move, and defeated Wang Chuqin 4-0 with one serve to enter the final.
First of all, it must be said that until the round of 16, Wang Chuqin always thought that his state in this World Cup was not very good. But he defeated Zhang Yuzhen, who had defeated him in the team World Cup, 4-1 in the last round, and it should be said that he is not in good shape. And Ma Long, after being robbed of the limelight by Yang Jingkun in the Incheon Championships, urgently needs a championship to help him regain the Paris Olympics ticket that was once in his hands again. Here's the pre-match background for this game.
In this game, the start of the first game was very much in line with everyone's expectations, with Wang Chuqin leading 4-1 and 6-2. At this moment, Malone began to make a premeditated change before the game, sending the ball from the backhand position that he rarely used, and the backhand counterspin served by Wang Chuqin's forehand.
This serve, used from the very beginning, has worked wonders. From this point on, Malone has been using this kind of serve throughout the court and has not made any changes. Ma Long's use of this kind of serve throughout the court shows how effective this kind of serve is, and it is also the key to Ma Long's victory in this game. The following is a GIF of Malone serving the ball at the match point (the GIF does not have as many frames as the video, and it may not be clear to see the reverse rotation).
Wang Chuqin began to receive the ball, using conventional methods, such as pulling Ma Long's backhand with his forehand, and Ma Long's backhand immediately tore his forehand to score. Wang Chuqin also tried to swing short and go to the net. Later, Wang Chuqin's main method was to run over and twist with his backhand, and he scored directly, but because he needed to return to the position for a long distance immediately after twisting, he was mainly losing points.
The advantage of this serve is that it greatly avoids Wang Chuqin's backhand twist, and Ma Long also pays attention to the landing point in the next ball, and the landing point is also concentrated in Wang Chuqin's forehand and middle. It was this serve and the control of the landing point that Ma Long made Wang Chuqin's iconic backhand, which did not come out of the whole game, and was all held in the teapot, very depressed.
Of course, Ma Long's serve still has changes in length, spin and landing point, and Wang Chuqin did not find a solution in the whole court. In the end, Ma Long won 4 games in a row 11-9, 12-10, 11-6, 14-12, defeated Wang Chuqin 4:0 and reached the final.
Defeating the opponent with a serve in the whole court is very rare in table tennis, and only Ma Long can do it. In the history of table tennis, Ma Long also used the whole court to send a forehand small triangle ball to defeat Tomokazu Zhang in the strongest period.
Ma Long's opponent in the final is the winner of Tomokazu Zhang and Lin Gaoyuan, and Ma Long is likely to win the championship. In that case, Malone's ticket to the Paris Olympics is back.