On May 11, Beijing time, the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam entered the last day of competition. WTT Grand Slam event was held in Saudi Arabia for the first time, and will be held in Saudi Arabia every year after that, as the most important table tennis event before the Paris Olympics, the national table tennis associations also sent the main lineup to warm up for the Paris Olympics, and the national table tennis also sent a lineup of 12 people to participate in the Saudi Grand Slam, aiming to win the five championships of the Saudi Grand Slam, and the more important purpose is to determine the participants of the Paris Olympics, especially the women's singles personnel.
After several days of fierce competition, the Saudi Grand Slam has decided the doubles and mixed doubles titles, with Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam mixed doubles title, Ma Long/Wang Chuqin winning the men's doubles title, and Chen Meng/Wang Manyu winning the women's doubles title. The most important singles champion will also be decided today, Saudi Arabia's Grand Slam schedule today:
- Women's singles final Sun Yingsha VS Chen Meng
- Men's Singles Final Wang Chuqin VS Francesca (Germany)
Sun Yingsha 4-2 Chen Meng【6-11,11-5,11-8,11-9,6-11,11-8】
Sun Yingsha, as the first sister of national table tennis, has ranked first in the world points and is far ahead, and his dominance in the Paris Olympic cycle is unmatched, winning the Singapore Grand Slam women's singles championship and the Macau World Cup women's singles gold medal in this year's competition, and she has locked in the women's team qualification for the Paris Olympics. Sun Yingsha has two competition tasks in the Saudi Grand Slam, she and Wang Chuqin's mixed doubles combination has won the championship, she is also a leader in the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam women's singles, in the first four rounds of the competition swept the opponent to advance, but in yesterday's women's singles semifinals by teammate Wang Yidi strong resistance, although Sun Yingsha defeated Wang Yidi 4-1, but the game process was not easy.
Chen Meng is currently ranked third in the world, before the start of the Saudi Grand Slam, her Olympic points were 1500 points lower than Wang Manyu, but Wang Manyu lost to India's Batra in the women's singles 1/16 finals, the Olympic points reward mechanism of the Table Tennis Association stipulates that 3000 points will be deducted if you lose to foreign players in the Saudi Grand Slam, and 3000 points will be awarded for winning the women's singles championship. Yesterday, her women's doubles combination with Wang Manyu also won the women's doubles title.
It is worth mentioning that Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng have a record of 10 wins and 5 losses, and Chen Meng defeated Sun Yingsha 4-2 in the women's singles final of the Tokyo Olympics and won the Olympic gold medal. But after the Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng faced Sun Yingsha and won only 1 of 9 encounters, and Chen Meng lost all of the last 6 encounters between the two.
Here's a recap of the pair's match in the Women's Singles final:
In the first game, the two played inseparably at the beginning of the game, and then Sun Yingsha scored continuously, Chen Meng's mistakes increased, Sun Yingsha's rhythm change in the first game was more distinct, and in the second half Chen Meng fell into passivity, Sun Yingsha won the first game 11-6.
In the second game, Chen Meng began to change the rhythm, leading 4-1 at the beginning, Chen Meng did not lose a point in the service round, Sun Yingsha made more mistakes, Chen Meng quickly led 9-2, Sun Yingsha chased 2 points in a row, Chen Meng got the game point 10-4, and with Sun Yingsha's swing error, Chen Meng pulled back a game 11-5.
In the third game, Chen Meng led 2-0 at the beginning, Sun Yingsha scored 2 points in a row to tie the score, the state of the two is getting better and better, their forehand usage rate is getting higher and higher, and they began to strengthen the fight, the game fell into a tug-of-war, the score came to 4-4 after Chen Meng scored 4 points in a row to open the score, Sun Yingsha accelerated at the end of the hold and chased 3 points in a row, Chen Meng got the game point 10-8, and Chen Meng scored another 1 point to win the third game 11-8 in a multi-shot hold.
In the fourth game, Chen Meng became more and more courageous, full of offense and defense, her continuous forehand attack opened with a 5-1 lead, Sun Yingsha fell into a passive Chen Meng, and soon fell behind 2-7, Sun Yingsha began to speed up and chase 4 points to equalize the score, and then the game fell into a tug-of-war, Chen Meng took the lead in getting the game point 10-9, and Sun Yingsha made a mistake so that Chen Meng won the fourth game 11-9.
In the fifth game, Sun Yingsha strengthened the quality of the first three boards, leading 3-1 at the beginning, although Chen Meng was also in full state, but Sun Yingsha played more fiercely, Sun Yingsha's continuous forehand attack, and soon took an 8-2 lead, Chen Meng, who fell behind, also began to speed up and chase 4 points in a row, Sun Yingsha got the game point 10-6 and won the fifth game 11-6, and the big score was 2-3 behind Chen Meng.
In the sixth game, Chen Meng played steadily, Sun Yingsha played a little urgently, Chen Meng led 5-2 at the beginning, Sun Yingsha stabilized her mentality and chased 2 points in a row, Chen Meng rewrote the score to 9-4 with two consecutive dribbles, and Chen Meng won the sixth game 11-8. Chen Meng defeated teammate Sun Yingsha 4-2, and Chen Meng won the Saudi Grand Slam women's singles gold medal.