Chen Meng and Qian Tianyi were the first players to the table in the women’s singles quarter-final draw, a fascinating generational test as one of the sport’s finest stood opposite one of China’s most exciting young talents. From the start of play, Chen Meng appeared the more composed of the two, both in terms of her level of devotion and the quality of her offense, which was significantly higher than her opponent. Disrupted by her opponent’s relentless pace, Qian struggled to find her rhythm.

Proceedings concluded after just four games (4-0), taking 32 minutes! After the match, Chen Meng reflected on her performance which saw her drop a combined total of just 20 points:

“After the first two games, I reduced my mistakes… Overall, I felt that I entered the match faster than my opponent. Today I simulated Qian Tianyi as an Olympic left-handed player to play. My overall performance went as expected.” Chen Meng

The second women’s singles quarter-final saw Wang Manyu face Gu Yuting. Enjoying a magnificent opening to the tie, Wang Manyu won all but five points. Losing out in game three as well, Gu made use of her deadly forehand attack to take the fight to Wang, pulling back two games to reduce the deficit. However, game six went to Wang and with it the match 4-2, setting up a meeting with Chen Meng in tomorrow’s semi-final.

Elsewhere, Wang Yidi secured an impressive six-game victory over Chen Xingtong, while Sun Yingsha outclassed Liu Fei 4-0.

Women’s Singles: Semi-Finals

Chen Meng vs Wang Manyu

Sun Yingsha vs Wang Yidi

The story of the day in the men’s singles competition surely belonged to Xu Chenhao. He defied the odds to power past Xu Xin! Not up to pace in the early moments of the match, Xu Xin couldn’t take advantage of his usually unforgiving forehand and before long found himself down by three games. On the other hand, Xu Chenhao showed excellent speed and strength throughout the tie, finding a range of angles with which Xu Xin appeared uncomfortable to deal.

A brilliant display all-round, Xu Chenhao defeated the ‘Cloud Walker’ 4-0 to advance to the semi-finals. Xu Chenhao admitted following the contest that he didn’t expect to beat the pen-hold grip star by such a convincing margin:

“I have never beaten Xu Xin in a competition. I lost to him 4-2 last time, he was the strongest! Today I think I played much better than last time. I prepared very well for the match, the mentality was good, just fight to the end.” Xu Chenhao

Liang Jingkun also gave a good account of himself in his quarter-final fixture, coming out on top in a dramatic six-game encounter with Lin Gaoyuan. Next up for Liang is a meeting with Fan Zhendong. He bested Yu Ziyang 4-1 in their head-to-head. The final remaining semi-final spot was awarded to Wang Chuqin following his straight game success against Yan An.

Men’s Singles: Semi-Final line-up

Fan Zhendong vs Liang Jingkun

Xu Chenhao vs Wang Chuqin