At 20:20 on the evening of May 5, Beijing time, Ma Long, the captain of the national table tennis team in the first round of the Saudi Grand Slam men's singles, played and defeated the Belgian star Martin Allegro 3-0 without twists and turns, and steadily advanced to the top 32. Ma Long is the last of the 6 tigers in the national table tennis men's team, after Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong have all opened the first round and collectively advanced to the top 32.
In the past four races, Malone has experienced a roller coaster with huge ups and downs. Lost to Lee Sang-so at the Busan World Table Tennis Championships, lost to Francesca in the Singapore Grand Slam, and lost to Liang Jingkun in the Incheon Championships. Ma Long's World Cup title came very timely, consolidating his qualification for the team event at the Paris Olympics in one fell swoop, so that Liang Jingkun, who was extremely powerful in the first two stops, had no chance to catch up.
Allegro is currently ranked 82nd in the world and is one of eight men's singles players to qualify for the main draw. Allegro has two previous records with national table tennis players, losing 1-3 to Liu Dingshuo in 2022 and losing 1-3 to Ma Long at the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan in February this year. His left-handed attack has certain characteristics, and the ability of the mid-to-far platform is relatively strong, but the first three boards are seriously insufficient, lacking a lot of design sense, and the quality of the veneer is also average.
In the first game, Malone started with full firepower, and won a 5-0 lead with continuous attacks, and Allegro could only rely on a few mistakes by Malone to pick up points, and took the initiative to attack and score nothing. 11-4, Malone easily won the first game.
In the second game, Malone perfectly replicated the process of the first game and won 11-4. In this game, Allegro hit a super god ball, otherwise his score would have been pressed even smaller by the Dragons.
In the third game, Malone relaxed his rhythm, Allegro finally passed the game, and Malone won the game 11-6 and took away the victory.
After Ma Long successfully passed the first round, the next round of the game will have a certain degree of test, and the opponent is South Korea's first brother Zhang Yuzhen. This is an attacking player who advocates frantic fighting, and is adept at attacking opponents' mental and technical defenses with furious rushes. If Ma Long can do his psychological homework and take the initiative to attack Wang Chuqin in the Macau World Cup, he should be able to carry the second round.