(by Steve Hopkins)

This week’s WTT Contender Series event is in Taiyuan, China.  Contender events are a mix of top players (in this case, all outside of the World Top 20) and rising players.  As the event is in China, many of the rising players are Chinese regional players who have not had a chance to make an impact on the world stage – but, perhaps, would be household names if they lives in other countries.

An Jaehyun, the event’s top seed breezed into the Final Four with 3-1, 3-1, and 3-0 wins.  The second seed, Xiang Peng, had a similar path to the Semifinals – cruising past Pang and Karlsson 3-1 and 3-0 and then winning a tighter 3-2 match over Lim Jonghoon.

Japan’s 17 year old rising star, Sora Matsushima, fought past two Chinese players, topping Xu Haidong 3-1 and Zhou Qihao 3-1 on his way to the Semifinals.  He will next face Xiang Peng.  And Chen Yuanyu fought through two 3-2 matches before defeating Park Gaghyeon 3-1 in the Quarters.  Yuanyu now moves on to face An Jaehyun.

Lots of quality table tennis on tap through the weekend – we’ll have more updates soon.

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