(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)
Americans made waves in the qualifying rounds of the United States Smash, the first WTT Smash Series event to be held on American soil. In the end, two men reached the final round of their qualifier and both fell short. Xiangjing Zhang won matches over two tough opponents to reach that point, beating Guilherme Teodoro of Brazil 3-0 and Norway’s Borgar Haug 3-1 before falling 1-3 to Joao Geraldo of Portugal. Zhang’s solid performance was rewarded when he was given one of two remaining Wild Card spaces in the Main Round. So despite the loss, he Zhang is now set to face Korea’s An Jaehyun on Monday in the Round of 64.
The other American Wildcards went to US Team Members Nandan Naresh, Sid Naresh, and Jishan Liang, USA’s Jinbao Ma also reached the final of his qualifier. He beat Dean Shu of New Zealand and Tiago Apolonia of Portugal before falling 0-3 to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of India – a short tournament, but a solid win over Apolonio (who is currently inside of the World Top 100).
In the Round of 64, the American matchups are Nandan Naresh against Dimitrij Ovtcharov on Monday, Xiangjing Zhang against An Jaehyun on Monday, Sid Naresh against Tomokazu Harimoto on Monday, Jishan Liang versus Chan Baldwin on Monday, and Kanak Jha versus Lee Sangsu later today (Sunday).
On the Women’s side, the USA will see Lily Zhang against Amy Wang on Sunday evening. The only other American in the draw is Sally Moyland who will face Jieni Shao of Portugal on Monday.
Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long with the Final scheduled for next Sunday.
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