(by Steve Hopkins)
China is strongly favored in both singles events as they bring World No. 1 and World No. 2 as the top two seeds (in both Men’s and Women’s Singles). For the Men’s event, both top seeds advanced as expected, with Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin each winning 4-0 in every round. The other two players to emerge to face them are Korea’s Woojin Jang and Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting. Wong needed a comeback to defeat Japan’s Yoshimura in 4-3 in the Round of 16, and then topped Lin Yun-Ju 4-3 in the Quarterfinals. Woojin’s path was highlighted by a 4-3 win over Tomokazu Harimoto in the Quarterfinals. The next round of singles will be played on Monday, where Fan will meet Woojin, and Chuqin will face Wong.
Thus far, Sun Yingsha has dropped only one game, and Wang Yidi has dropped only two games on their way to the Semifinals. Korea’s Shin Yubin will face Sun on Sunday, and Hina Hayata will face Wang. Both Yubin and Hayata have had relatively easy paths to the Finals as well.
The doubles events have also advanced to the Semifinals stage it will be Korea versus Taipei in one Men’s Doubles Semi, and China versus Iran in the other. Both Men’s Doubles Semifinals provided some surprise, as in the top bracket, Taipei’s team of Chuang Chih-Yuan and Lin Yun-Ju ousted China’s team of Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun, and in the lower bracket, Iran has again prevailed unexpectedly with Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan defeating Japan’s team of Matsushita and Oikawa. Semifinals and Finals in the Doubles events will be played on Sunday.
In Women’s Doubles, both Chinese teams were upset on Saturday. Japan’s Miwa Harimoto and Miyuu Kihara had a 3-1 win over Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu. Japan will face Korea’s team of Jeon/Shin on Monday. In the other half of the draw, the upset of the tournament goes to India’s Mukherjee sisters who topped China’s team of Chen Meng and Wang Yidi 3-1. India will face another surprise Semifinalist, the North Korean team of Cha Suyong and Pak Sugyong. The Semifinal and Final Matches are scheduled for Monday. Mixed Doubles has already been completed, with China over China (Chuqin/Sun over Gaoyuan/Wang 4-1).
More action is on tap in Hangzhou – we’ll have more updates throughout the weekend.
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