On May 11, Beijing time, at the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong staged a wonderful showdown. Wang Chuqin completed the reversal after falling behind 0-2, and narrowly defeated Lin Shidong 4-3 in 7 games and advanced to the men's singles final. Although Lin Shidong lost this semi-final, he also played very well, and his technical playing style is very advanced, which can be said to be the hope star of national table tennis in the next Olympic cycle.
Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong are both in the upper half of the men's singles, and the two played well and met in the semifinals as they wished. In the first two games of the game, Lin Shidong had the advantage, the key ball dared to fight, and the tactical use was very reasonable, Wang Chuqin chased hard, but there was not much advantage in the attack, Lin Shidong took a big lead of 2-0 with two 11-8. Although this is a best-of-7 game, falling behind 0-2 is a desperate situation for Wang Chuqin.
In the third and fourth games, Lin Shidong maintained the lead in the first half of each game, but Wang Chuqin had a good mentality, and worked hard to chase points in the second half of these two games to achieve a reversal, and in passivity, Wang Chuqin won the third game 11-8 and the fourth game 11-9, allowing the two to return to the same running line.
Winning two games in a row also let Wang Chuqin release the pressure, he had an obvious advantage in the fifth game, this was the game with the most disparity in points, Wang Chuqin won another game 11-4, and the big score was 3-2. In the sixth game, Wang Chuqin once led 6-3, but Lin Shidong staged a reversal and won the game 11-7, dragging the game into a deciding game.
In the final tiebreaker, Wang Chuqin was superior, he established the lead early, seized the opportunity, locked the victory 11-6, and eliminated Lin Shidong with a thrilling score of 4-3, advanced to the men's singles final, and will compete with Francesca for the championship. Wang Chuqin reversed and won, dominating the hot search after the game, coinciding with his 24th birthday, Wang Chuqin got the first victory at the age of 24, he was very modest after the game, and bluntly said that Lin Shidong has the most advanced technical play in the world, his ability and impact are very strong, and he has the ability to defeat any player in the world. Wang Chuqin showed super high emotional intelligence, of course, it also shows that Lin Shidong's performance is really good, and the first two games really made Wang Chuqin a little embarrassed.
Wang Chuqin has won the mixed doubles championship and the men's doubles championship, and will go all out to attack the men's singles championship and strive to be crowned the triple crown. And Lin Shidong regretfully ended his trip to Saudi Arabia, although he missed the finals, but his future is indeed worth looking forward to, at the end of Ma Long's career, Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun are also slowly becoming veterans, Lin Shidong's rise is crucial, Chinese men's table tennis has successors, I believe he will continue to grow, wait for the opportunity to truly belong to himself, shine in the next Olympic cycle, and become another main player in national table tennis!