The 2024 ITTF Saudi Arabia Grand Slam continues to compete for the second round of men's and women's singles, and the national table tennis players suffered a big setback on this match day, with only four of the eight players advancing to the second round, and the other four were eliminated in an upset. Especially in the men's singles field, it is even more unpopular, only two young players of the national table tennis players defeated their respective opponents and advanced to the top 16 of men's singles, the new World Cup champion and runner-up Ma Long, Lin Gaoyuan and the world's fourth Liang Jingkun have become the target of upsets, among which Liang Jingkun lost to Alamiyan, Lin Gaoyuan unexpectedly lost to Danish player Grote, and the biggest upset is the Grand Slam winner Ma Long did not win a game and lost 0-3 to South Korean star Zhang Yuzhen, which is a big surprise. Only the world's No. 1 Wang Chuqin and hopeful star Lin Shidong successfully advanced to the third round, of which Wang Chuqin swept Ionescu 3-0, and Lin Shidong narrowly defeated Firus 3-2.
National table tennis current Grand Slam winner Ma Long faced South Korean star Zhang Yuzhen in the second round, the latter has defeated a number of national table tennis men's team main players, although the overall is not stable, but still has a lot of strength, he also defeated the world No. 1 Wang Chuqin in the World Table Tennis Championships team competition, and his strength should not be underestimated. Ma Long can be said to be in the limelight lately, he won the World Cup in Macau with consecutive defeats against strong opponents, and his career world championship has increased to 30, which can be said to be unprecedented. In this Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, Ma Long's goal is naturally to win the championship, so as to increase his weight to participate in the men's singles competition at the Paris Olympics.
Ma Long and Zhang Yuzhen's game is still very fierce, the first game Ma Long led twice at the beginning and was forced to draw twice by the opponent, the two sides fought to a 4-4 draw, and then the two sides drew from 5 to 8 draws, Ma Long won the game point 11-10 after saving the game point in a row when he was 8-10 behind, but unfortunately he lost three points in a row to lose a game 11-13. In the second game, Ma Long fell behind 1-3 at the beginning and stubbornly chased the score to a 5-5 draw, and then he lost four points in a row to fall behind 5-9, and Zhang Yuzhen, who became more and more courageous, won another game 11-6 and led 2-0. In the third game, Ma Long was passive at the beginning, Zhang Yuzhen scored consecutive points to take a 10-5 lead and get the match point, the backward Ma Long saved three match points in a row and lost, Zhang Yuzhen won the third game 11-8, and the total score was 3-0 to sweep the national table tennis world champion Ma Long, and advanced to the top 16 of men's singles, causing a big upset.
With the new World Cup champion Ma Long was eliminated in an upset, the national table tennis has lost three main players in this Grand Slam, you must know that the second round of singles has not all ended, which is still very rare in recent tournaments, before Ma Long was eliminated, Incheon Championship champion Liang Jingkun and Xinke World Cup men's singles runner-up Lin Gaoyuan were eliminated in an upset, and one lost more completely than one, Liang Jingkun lost to Alamiyan 2-3 after five rounds, and Lin Gaoyuan lost 1-3 to Danish star Grote after four games, and Ma Long lost three games in a row 0-3。 In addition, the teenager Lin Shidong almost overturned in the gutter when facing the German star Firus, in the first game Lin Shidong scored 10 points in a row after 1-1 to win 11-1, and in the second game Lin Shidong scored five points in a row when he was 7-10 behind to 12-10 and then the next city, leading 2-0, and then Lin Shidong's state fluctuated in the next two games, Firus won 11-9, Losing two games in a row 11-8, Lin Shidong fought to catch up when the big score was 4-8 behind, and he won 13-11 after saving the match point, defeating the opponent with a total score of 3-2, and advanced to the next round without danger.