On the evening of May 10, Beijing time, the semifinals of the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam women's singles continued. Olympic champion Chen Meng debuted, her opponent was Japan's Hina Hayata, the two met again after the World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan in February, as a result, Chen Meng won four games in a row, revenge, 4-0 swept Hina Hayada to advance to the final.
In this competition, Chen Meng has already connected Miyu Hirano and Miwa Zhangmoto, and the battle with Hina Hayada in the semifinals is crucial, whether he can get a singles quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics here!
Due to Wang Manyu's early upset and stop in the top 32, according to the Olympic selection rules, 3000 points need to be deducted, as long as Chen Meng can enter the women's singles final, the points can surpass Wang Manyu to second, in this most critical time node of the competition for the Olympics, Chen Meng can only win this game and cannot lose.
The matchup between China and Japan has always been in the spotlight, and this match is full of highlights, please see below for details of the match.
Hina Hayata, sitting firmly in the No. 1 position of Japanese women's table tennis in the Paris cycle, left-handed, double-sided reverse glue, more prominent backhand skills, strong game toughness, small ups and downs in mentality, very good at chasing points behind the country, more momentum against the Warring States table tennis, the ball is obvious, and it is becoming more and more difficult to play, Chen Meng must be fully prepared to fight this hard battle.
At the beginning of the game, in the first game, there was no temptation, direct attack, the two were more in the first three boards of the competition, Chen Meng grabbed Hina Hayata's forehand short, took the initiative to attack, 9-4 lead.
Hayada changed the serve, Chen Meng returned the ball out of bounds, chased four points in a row, and the score came to 9-8, the key point Chen Meng twisted and pulled very decisively, 11-9, Chen Meng won the first game.
In the second game, Chen Meng adhered to the tactics of the previous game, continued to catch Hayata's short forehand, mobilized Hina Hayada from various large angles, played very firmly, and had clear thinking, 11-5, and won another game.
In the third game, Hina Hayada directly fought with Chen Meng, sending and grabbing, which caused more pressure on Chen Meng, falling behind 0-5, but Chen Meng adjusted quickly, and was constantly attacking, scoring directly on the serve, overtaking the score, and Hayada paused.
After the pause, Chen Meng continued to be in good shape, and the prediction of the landing point of Hina Hina Hayada was very accurate, 10:5, Hina Hayada dared to fight when the score was behind, and there were many balls, saving 5 game points in a row, after 10 draws, Chen Meng seized the opportunity, 12-10, and then in the next game, the big score was 3-0 ahead.
In the fourth game, Chen Meng's momentum came up, the forehand position was very tight, and the backhand changed the line many times, so that Hina Hayada had no choice, 11-7, Chen Meng eliminated Hina Hayada with a score of 4-0 and got the ticket to the women's singles final of the Grand Slam.
Chen Meng successfully advanced to the women's singles final of the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam, which also means that the competition for the Olympic No. 2 singles spot in the Paris cycle is finally over.
According to the Olympic selection rules issued by the Chinese Table Tennis Association, Chen Meng qualified for the Olympic singles by virtue of the second place in the Olympic points, and finally based on the official documents, the details of the Olympic list of women's table tennis candidates are expected to be announced on May 14, and everyone can continue to pay attention.
Chen Meng's opponent in the final will be the winner between Sun Yingsha VS Wang Yidi, the Chinese team has locked the women's singles championship, no matter which teammate they play with in the final, both sides can play to their heart's content, without too much pressure, just play their normal level, because the championship is China!