(By Steve Hopkins)
World No. 1 Lin Shidong won both of his matches 3-0 as he easily moved to the Quarterfinals at the WTT Champions Series event in Macao. Shidong is set to face Anders Lind who upset Darko Jorgic in the first round, and then outlasted Chen Yuanyu in the Round of 16.
Hugo Calderano topped Dang Qiu on Friday to reach the Quarters. Calderano’s next foe is Patrick Franziska. A second German, Benedikt Duda, has also reached the Quarters, and he will face Jang Woojin. Woojin is the beneficiary of an early upset, where Tomokazu Harimoto fell to Xue Fei – giving Woojin an easier path forward. The Final pairing is between Wang Chuqin and Lin Yun-Ju – both were expected to reach this far, and neither has allowed an opponent to push them to a fifth game.
USA’s Kanak Jha lost his opening match to Dan Qiu- a disappointing first round exit, but to a solid opponent (and Borussia Dusseldorf teammate). Of the six Chinese players to enter, only Chuqin and Shidong remain – likely a disappointing showing for China. Four Japanese players have also had early exits – none reached the second round. At this point, the top half of the draw has one German and one Chinese player as well as one other European (Lind) and one from Brazil. The bottom half of the draw also has one German and one Chinese player and a pair of other Asians (Woojin and Yun-Ju).
The Quarterfinals are set to start on Saturday afternoon.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest in table tennis news and results.
