The 2024 ITTF Saudi Grand Slam has entered its fifth matchday and has already produced the top 16 in men's and women's singles, the top 8 in men's and women's doubles, and the top 4 in mixed doubles. In the second round of the men's singles competition, which attracted much attention from the outside world, the national table tennis players played poorly, and half of the six players were eliminated, the world champion Ma Long, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan were upset and lost to their opponents in the second round of men's singles, only the world No. 1 Wang Chuqin and the world No. 2 Fan Zhendong joined hands with the teenager Lin Shidong to advance to the men's singles round of 16. In the second round of the game, world champions Bol, Ocharov, chipper Firus, and Chinese star Duda were eliminated one after another, and only two players remained, Francesca and Qiu Dang. In addition to the three national table tennis champions and the two world champions of Germany, the Chinese Taipei world champion Zhuang Zhiyuan also lost to South Korean teenager Zhao Dacheng and missed the round of 16.
The national table tennis men's singles competition is still all the main force, the first round of the game also played smoothly, they encountered Waterloo in the second round, first the world No. 4 Liang Jingkun lost 2-3 to Iran's Alamiyan, and then the World Cup runner-up Lin Gaoyuan lost 1-3 to the little-known Grote, and the biggest upset was the new World Cup champion Ma Long 0-3 defeat to South Korean star Zhang Yuzhen, the three players in the best form in recent games have stopped in the second round of men's singles. Fortunately, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, and Lin Shidong played normally, and they defeated their respective opponents to advance to the men's singles round of 16, but the teenager Lin Shidong won not easily, in the face of the German star Firus, Lin Shidong was almost staged a shocking reversal by the opponent, he won two games first and then lost two games in a row, and the decisive game was a big score behind the situation to catch up, and finally saved the match point after two points narrowly defeated the difficult to advance to the men's singles round of 16. In contrast, the two favorites Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong won very easily, with Wang Chuqin sweeping world runner-up Ionescu 3-0, while Fan Zhendong defeated World Table Tennis Championships men's singles third runner-up Ahn Jae-hyun 3-0.
The national table tennis men's team suffered a big setback in the Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, and the national table tennis rival, the European table tennis powerhouse German men's table tennis also suffered a heavy blow in the second round, they have four players stopped in the second round of the men's singles, in addition to the above-mentioned chipper Firus lost to the national table tennis teenager Lin Shidong, the men's singles world champion Ocharov played poorly in the match with the Japanese teenager Shinozuka Daito, and the two sides lost 1-3 after four rounds of fierce battles. The three-time World Cup men's singles champion Bol also lost 1-3 to his opponent in the match with his teammate Qiu Dang, missing the men's singles round of 16, and Germany's two world champions were eliminated one after another. Immediately after that, the Chinese star Duda tried his best against the French teenager Felix and still lost to the opponent 2-3, unfortunately stopped in the second round of the men's singles, and Felix was almost eliminated in the gutter. In addition to Qiu Dang's defeat of Bol in the civil war, the fierce Francesca was in great form, he swept Robles 3-0 in straight games, and advanced to the third round strongly, only allowing the opponent to score 11 points in three games, so that the German men's table tennis four stopped in the second round, and two advanced to the men's singles round of 16.
In the other headlines, Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto continued his recent hot form, losing and winning against South Korea's Lim Joong-hoon, who won three games in a row and eliminated his opponent 3-1 on aggregate. Japan's Yoshimura Maharu is in good form, beating Egypt's Omar 3-2 after five games to advance to the men's singles round of 16, where he will next face world No. 1 Wang Chuqin in the quarterfinals.
However, Japanese national champion Kosuke Togami was unable to move on, and he lost 2-3 to Brazil's Hugo Calderano in five games to miss out on the men's singles round of 16. The South Korean team did not play well in the second round, in addition to Lin Zhongxun and Ahn Jae-hyun were eliminated, the world table tennis third runner-up Lee Sang-so and African brother Aruna were in a fluctuating state, and finally lost 2-3, breaking out a big upset, but Zhao Dacheng's elimination of Chinese Taipei world champion Zhuang Zhiyuan made them feel a little comforted. Slovenia's Dakojoczyk was in good form, beating Australia's Lin Wenzheng 3-0 in straight games. In this way, the top 16 of the men's singles were all released, and the three national table tennis players advanced, and then Fan Zhendong faced Francesca, Lin Shidong faced Alamyan, and Wang Chuqin faced Japanese world champion Yoshimura Maharu.