6 out of 8! Incheon Championship Battle Report: Lin Gaoyuan advanced 3-1, and Zhu Yuling upset Hina Hayata

On April 4, 2025, Beijing time, the WTT Incheon Championship will fully enter the 1/8 finals. In women's singles, Japan's women's table tennis main player Miwa Zhangmoto appeared on the court again, losing three straight games in the women's singles 1/8 finals, easily defeating Illand from the Netherlands 3-0 and successfully advancing to the quarterfinals. In the whole game, Zhang Benmeihe almost did not give the opponent a chance, showing strong field control ability and technical and tactical execution. So far, five women singles have advanced to the quarterfinals, including Japan's Misei Ito, Satsuki Oto, Miwa Zhangmoto, Zhu Yuling of China, and national table tennis player Wang Yidi narrowly defeated teammate Qian Tianyi.

In men's singles, in the men's singles focus match staged in the finale of this match day, Lin Gaoyuan, the No. 4 main player of the Chinese team, defeated the German star and former world No. 1 Ocharov with a score of 3-1 and successfully advanced to the men's singles quarterfinals. Throughout the game, Lin Gaoyuan performed steadily, had clear tactics, and finally had the last laugh, adding another place to the top eight for the national table tennis. With the end of this match, six people have been determined in the men's singles quarterfinals of this station, and the specific list is as follows: Lin Yunru, Xiang Peng, Matsushima Terukorn, Lee Sang-so, Francesca and Lin Gaoyuan. Here are some of the match results.

Zhang Benmei and 3-0 Illand

A rising star in table tennis, she has climbed to the world ranking No. 5 at just under the age of 17, becoming the most representative of the women's team in Japan and other associations. She has shown her strength in many international competitions, winning the team silver medal at the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships, and the bronze medal in the individual event of the World Cup.

In contrast, Dutchman's Illand, despite his experience and frequent appearances on the international stage, has never been able to achieve impressive results. This time facing Miwa Zhangmoto, the core main player of the Japanese team, the outside world generally believes that her chances of winning are slim. At the beginning of the game, Illand once suppressed the opponent with serving and other tactics in the first game and took the lead in winning the game point, but Zhang Benmei and the crisis were not chaotic, and won the key points in a row to win 15-13. The second game was the same as Illand's lead before being tied and overtaken, and despite a timeout that he pulled back the situation, he eventually lost 9-11 again, and the situation fell into disadvantage.

In the third game, Illand's form dropped significantly, falling behind 1-6 in the opening game, and there was a service error, although it was chased to 5-6 in the middle stage, only one point apart, but failed to continue to fight back, and finally lost 6-11. She stopped in the women's singles round of 16 and missed the chance to compete for the title further. On the whole, Illand's offensive and defensive quality is acceptable, but if it is put into the Japanese system, I am afraid that it will be difficult to enter even the second line.

Zhu Yuling 3-2 Hina Hayata

Hina Hayada chose to take a long break after the Paris Olympics and did not compete for more than five months. However, after her comeback, she was unable to regain her peak performance. In the Chennai Star Challenge in India last week, Hayata, despite being the top seed, was unexpectedly defeated in the round of 16 and exited early. And the young Zhang Ben Miwa seized the opportunity, passed all the way to finally win the championship, and with this victory, he successfully jumped to the fifth place in the world and became the leader of Japanese women's table tennis. Hayata's defeat was costly, as he was expected to regain the advantage through his comeback, but was overtaken by his teammates.

It is worth mentioning that Hayada not only hired a Chinese coaching team during a long period of closed training, but also began to learn Chinese, and carried out targeted technical innovation, aiming to break the existing bottleneck. On this trip to Incheon, she obviously hopes to regroup and prove herself again. Another player who has attracted much attention, Zhu Yuling, has been participating in various tournaments since returning to the WTT Macau Championship in September last year, and her form has quickly recovered, and she has soared from "zero ranking" to the top 30 in the world in just a few months.

In the first game, Zhu Yuling took the lead in scoring to kick off the game, but was soon warned by the referee because of her serve, and her mood was affected and her rhythm fluctuated. Hina Hayada seized the opportunity and scored five points in a row to establish a clear advantage. Despite this, Zhu Yuling gradually stabilized her position with her profound technical background, and stubbornly chased it to 6-7 in the middle game. Subsequently, she created repeated chances in the standoff and successfully leveled the score at 9-all. However, Hayada relied on the initiative of his own service round and scored two consecutive serve attacks to take the lead 11-9.

Zhu Yuling suffered relatively in the first three beats, lacking the current mainstream backhand twisting and pulling technology, which made her mostly passive in the opening stage, and often had to wait until she entered the middle and far platform to control the rhythm of the game. This disadvantage is a reflection of the lag in technological updates after years of being away from the mainstream arena.

At the beginning of the second game, Zhu Yuling decisively adjusted her strategy, took the initiative to grab the serve, tried her best to keep the score in the service game, and at the same time tried to break serve in the service link, which achieved initial results and quickly led 7-3. However, Hina Hayada then changed her tactics, changed her rhythm with a high serve, and stepped up her attack to take a 9-7 lead. At the end of the game, the two frequently staged wonderful confrontations, and Zhu Yuling relied on excellent spin control and on-court calmness to win a game 14-12.

In the third game, the two sides continued to engage in fierce confrontation, Hayada relied on the fast-paced attack of the near stage to exert pressure, while Zhu Yuling used the change of landing point and rhythm control to play a protracted battle, with different styles of attack and defense. The score was tight all the way to 9 draws. At the critical moment, Zhu Yuling showed rich experience in the competition, first forcing the opponent to make mistakes in the multi-shot pull, and then suddenly decisively making a sideways forehand in the hair extension, scoring two points in a row, and then 11-9 to achieve a score overtake, temporarily leading 2-1.

In the fourth game, Zhu Yuling was in excellent condition and had an excellent feel, although the lethality of the attack was not violent, but she relied on a very high rate of on-stage and steady ball control to firmly control the rhythm of the game. It didn't take long for her to build a 9-4 lead. Seeing that the match could be taken away, Hina Hayada gave it a go under pressure and launched a stunning counterattack. She scored consecutive points, played a 7-0 shockwave like a rainbow, and finally reversed 11-9 to fight for a glimmer of life for herself, and also chased the big score to a 2-2 draw.

Entering the fifth game of the decisive game, Hina Hayada was in high spirits, and her offensive firepower was full of firepower, and every point she scored was accompanied by a loud roar, and her aura was full. Zhu Yuling, on the other hand, used static braking, played steadily, and suppressed Hayata's rhythm by creating strong spins, making it difficult for the opponent to unleash the speed impact and regain a 7-3 lead. Although Hayada once again launched a frantic fight and chased the score to 7-8, which was only one point away, Zhu Yuling learned the lesson of being overturned in the previous game, withstood the pressure and closed steadily, locking the victory with 11-8 and winning the whole game.

Lin Gaoyuan 3-1 Ocharov

Ocharov, nicknamed the "Great Protector" by fans, is named after his "iron foil" record of 21 defeats in the fight against Ma Long, which seems to exist specifically for Ma Long to "clear obstacles". But despite this "fate", Ocharov was ranked No. 1 in the world at his peak, and for most fighters, he is definitely a formidable opponent to be taken lightly. In the first round of the tournament, he defeated the host Korean team's hopeful Oh Hyun-seong in a fierce form, fully demonstrating his unique cracking and suppressive power against young players, especially the speed-oriented play.

In terms of national table tennis, Lin Gaoyuan led the Incheon station, but suffered a heavy blow in the first round: Xue Fei and Chen Yuanyu both stopped in the first round, allowing Lin Gaoyuan to shoulder a greater responsibility of leading the team. In his first match, Lin Gaoyuan faced the Danish veteran Grote with ups and downs, and finally successfully reversed and advanced. Judging from the overall performance, Lin Gaoyuan's serve and active attack showed a very high level in the game, and basically returned to the peak state; However, the transition after the forehand attack is still a little stiff, and there are some details that need to be adjusted.

At the beginning of the first game, Lin Gaoyuan quickly got into the groove, breaking Ocharov's two service games in a row to take the lead 3-1. Although Ocha once tied the score by adjusting his serving tactics, Lin Gaoyuan successfully opened the gap with his fast pace and tricky landing points in the holding session, and the score came to 8-5 and firmly controlled the situation, and finally took the lead 11-7.

Entering the second game, Ocharov strengthened his active attack and led 3-1 at the beginning, but Lin Gaoyuan quickly pulled the score back by hitting the middle with precision. Ocha immediately changed his serving strategy again, frequently changing the landing point and spin, which made Lin Gaoyuan difficult to adapt for a while, and was once pulled away by the opponent. It is worth mentioning that Ochha used almost every serve he had mastered in this game, and the number of variations in serve was impressive. However, Lin Gaoyuan withstood the pressure at the end of the game, stubbornly chased the score to 9-9, and finally won the next game 12-10 to take a 2-0 lead.

The third game became the peak of the strong confrontation between the two. In the face of Ocharov, who was cornered, Lin Gaoyuan remained highly focused and actively mobilized his opponents, but Ocha also showed the resilience and explosiveness of the top fighters, and fought with all his might. The score remained deadlocked until 9-9, and then fell into a tug-of-war for key points, and finally Ocharov won the game 14-12 with his rich experience in the tournament to win a difficult game and win a chance for himself.

In the fourth game, Lin Gaoyuan made tactical adjustments, no longer relying too much on speed, but adding more rhythm changes and playing more flexibly. After the rhythm was disrupted, Ocha obviously had standing and pace problems, and it was difficult to form an effective counterattack. Lin Gaoyuan took advantage of the situation to take full control of the situation, played a wave of attacks, easily won the tiebreaker 11-3, and finally defeated Ocharov 3-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals.