(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
The world’s best converged on Macao for the ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cup, and by the weekend, the field was narrowed down to the final eight for the Quarterfinals. The Women’s World Cup has bee full of interesting underdog runs and “firsts”. Egypt’s Hana Goda reached the Quarters – the first African female to ever go that far (and tying Aruna for the only Africans to ever reach the Quarterfinals of a World Cup). Goda’s 4-3 comeback win over Jia Nan Yuan set up a Quarterfinal match against World No. 1 Sun Yingsha. Goda’s run ended on Saturday, but it may have been the best match of the tournament thus far with Yingsha taking a 2-0 lead with a pair of tight victories only to see Goda run off three electric wins in a row. The final game was a 13-11 classic – that went to World No. 1 Sun Yingsha.
The second fourth of the draw was loaded with Sabine Winter facing China’s Qin Yuaxuan and Wang Yidi against Miwa Harimoto. Wang Yidi emerged to reach the Quarters after a 4-1 win over Harimoto and Sabine Winter topped Qin Yuaxuan. When Winter defeated Yidi 4-0 on Saturday, she became the first European woman to ever reach the Semifinals of the World Cup.
When Chen Xingtong fought past Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz 4-2 and Shin Yubin won 4-0 over Ying Han of Germany, things were pretty normal with the two higher seeds advancing. That was turned on its ear on Saturday when Shin Yubin became the first player from the Korea Republic to reach the Semifinals of a World Cup. Another win – another piece of history in Macao.
Ultimately, the bottom fourth of the draw lacked the drama of the other three sections. Honoka Hashimoto (World No. 15) logged a solid 4-1 win over Bruna Takahashi, and World No. 2 Wang Manyu dominated Mima Ito 4-0 in their opening round match. That set up a quarterfinal between Hashimoto and Manyu that Manyu won 4-2.
Sunday will see the conclusion of this rendition of the World Cup. Of the four players, two have already made historic runs (Winter has gone further than any European, and Yubin has gone further than any Korean). The other two players are chasing history – as World No. 1 and World No. 2 continue to press to be first in the rankings.
Action starts with the Semifinals in the morning and the Finals will follow tomorrow evening.
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