(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Wang Chuqin and Felix Lebrun had narrow wins, but the top storylines in Day 4 of China Smash action were the lower ranked players surprising the field. France’s Flavien Coton won 3-2 over Feng Yi-Hsin, sending 17 year old World No. 52 into the Final 16. Another player coming of age on the biggest stage is Romania’s Eduard Ionescu (World No. 74), who has not beaten Alexis Lebrun 3-1 and Jonathan Groth 3-0 and will face Felix Lebrun on Thursday. Kristian Karlsson is a third player that has reached the Round of 16 unexpectedly – though he has benefitted greatly from Yuan Licen upsetting Anton Kallberg – allowing Karlsson to be the higher seed in each of his first two matches (on his way to facing World No. 2 Lin Shidong on Thursday).
China has a large share of the next Round with six players reaching the Final 16, but its important to note that the host started with 13 players in the Men’s main draw. Japan has three players that have reached this round with Matsushima, Hamada, and Uda all performing well. Two Swedes (Karlsson and Moregard), two Frenchmen (Coton and Felix Lebrun) and An Jaehyun, Hugo Calderano, and Eduard Ionescu as well (Republic of Korea, Brazil, Romania).
Women’s Singles on Day 4 eliminated the final non-Asian players. Eight Chinese players, four Japanese players, a pair from the Republic of Korea, Zhu Yuling from Macao, and Li Yu-Jhun of Taipei make up the Round of 16. This largely reflects the rankings with the top players all still in action – Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong, Kuai Man and Wang Yidi will all be favored until they play each other. The first of those match-ups would be in the Quarters where Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi could face off on Friday. Chen Xingtong could be pressed in that same round against Zhu Yuling (former Chinese team member now playing for Macao). Kuai Man is on a collision course to face Wang Manyu in the Semifinals.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long – we’ll have more updates soon.
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