Table Tennis

The Chinese side dropped their first point today—Harimoto managed to take one off Wang Chuqin, which was wild. Also, I guess it’s pretty interesting that they only gave Ma Long a single match to play today.

It was a quick sweep in the finals against Germany, where Dang Qiu managed to snag just a single set from Ma Long.
By the way, Dang Qiu isn't one of those typical naturalized Chinese players representing Germany like most of them do
for various other national teams; he was actually born right there in Germany.

And it goes without saying that the Chinese women also grabbed the gold, absolutely dominating the field without dropping a single match;
you could count the sets they lost on just one hand.

It was a pretty decent set, aside from those insane semifinals where Harimoto actually managed to take down both Zhendong Fan and Wang.

So, there's this massive tournament kicking off tomorrow over in Macau, and honestly, the lineup is absolutely stacked with all the heavy hitters. I think we've even got Ortraga in the draw too, which is pretty cool.

That was an incredible match between Felix Lebrun and Lin Yun-ju. Those few unbelievable points Felix snatched away
just go to show he can hold his own against the absolute elite.
The winner moves on to face Ortraga, who already knocked out another veteran, Chuang Chih-yuan, in the first round.
Over in the Group Z bracket, we saw a massive upset when M. Wang fell to the Chinese player Yuan.

So, even young Harimoto took a bit of a hit today, which was honestly kind of unexpected. I actually really enjoyed watching that match, though—lots of backhand versus backhand rallies going on, and man, his service game was just lethal today.
Tomorrow is looking like it's gonna be absolutely stacked with elite matchups, too.

Man, Ortraga really took a hit there. That was brutal—five sets that were way too close for comfort.

Way to go, Szocs!🙏

C. Meng pulled off a total thriller to win, handing us the biggest upset of the tournament so far. This means we aren't just stuck watching a predictable lineup of Chinese and Japanese matchups in the
QF. The bracket is looking much more diverse and exciting now, which is always the best part
of these events. We still have that big Ma vs Qiu showdown left to decide the final spot in the
QF.

That Romanian player and Mima Ito were looking pretty dangerous, but she ended up dropping it in the 5th set this time. Honestly, just an incredible match between Wang and Ma Long—I guess youth finally caught up to them in the end.

Semifinals start at 1 PM
Fan vs Lin
Wang vs Moregard

Sun vs Juan
Ito vs Chen

What an absolute thriller in the final between Fan and Wang! It pushed all the way to a seventh set, where Wang
managed to grab a massive early lead and just refused to let it go.
It’s been a monster week for Wang—taking down two of the top players on the planet is no small feat—but things are about to get even more intense.
This coming weekend marks the WTT finals, featuring the top 16 players in the world.
I thought the women's final was a bit of a letdown, though, since Sun cruised to the title way too easily.

Wang played out of his mind there. Even though things got super sketchy in those final sets against Ma Long and Zhendong Fan, he honestly looked like the better player for most of the match. That forehand is just absolute carnage, seriously. I guess we're all just counting down the days until the heavy hitters take the stage next weekend.

Jorgic managed to snatch the first set and was sitting pretty at 8/4 in the second, but I guess that just ended up lighting a fire under Ma Long instead.

Dimitrij Ovtcharov put on an absolute clinic there, totally taking down Fan Zhendong to punch his ticket into the semifinals. Now he’s set up to face Harimoto, who basically treated his match against Dang Qiu like a warmup. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this second quarterfinal bracket shakes out.

wiredcanyon39 said:What a masterclass from Dimitrij Ovtcharov! He absolutely dismantled Fan Zhendong to secure his spot in the semifinals. Next up, he’ll be facing Harimoto, who just finished playing around with Dang Qiu. I can't wait to see how the other quarter of the bracket shakes out!

I just finished watching the replay of the match between Wang and Ma Long—man, what an incredible game!🙏

Ma Long was staring down a brutal 3-0 deficit, looking like he might just drop the whole match, but he somehow fought his way back to force a seventh game. In the end, though, Wang just stayed more composed during those final crucial points and clinched it.
Setu is playing some absolutely incredible table tennis right now—he’s in the form of his life! Honestly, you can't overlook that kind of momentum; pulling off two massive wins like that in a single week is no small feat.
The greatest of all time meets the world number one. It’s going to be an absolute clinic tomorrow in the finals when he faces Harimoto, who has been absolutely tearing through the bracket.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Nothing new to report from the women's side here in San Francisco—it’s basically an all-Chinese takeover. At this rate, we're looking at a showdown between the two best in the world, Sun and Meng, in the finals.

Man, Wang is just on another level. I mean, Harimoto managed to take him down in the semifinals during the World Team Championships, which was wild, but who knows if that little Chinese guy can actually clear this next hurdle tomorrow? Maybe he can, maybe not. We'll see.

Honestly, Meng just absolutely dismantled Manya today. I don't know, I was totally expecting a much tighter match than that, maybe even a toss-up. Either way, we've got two absolute treats lined up for tomorrow.

Man, what an absolute banger of a final between the two best women in the game right now. Total chaos in that 7th game, seriously dramatic stuff.

It was honestly such a close call—Meng almost completely flipped the script after trailing 3-1 in sets
and finding herself down 10-7 in the seventh. She just handed it away by hitting way too many easy FH shots out of bounds during that final set.

That was some top-tier table tennis. I’m really hoping the men's final is just as gripping.
Watching Harimoto feels like watching a veteran who's been in the game forever, yet the kid is only 19! He’s already got one
major championship title under his belt from when he was just 15.

Tomokazu Harimoto is burning way too much energy celebrating every single point; it’s obvious his drive to beat
his own countrymen is getting the better of him.😁 Wang is clearly playing at a world-class level right now on the
global stage, but he’ll need to maintain this exact momentum through next year if he wants to secure a spot in
the Olympics, because I think Fan Zhendong is a lock, while the battle for that second singles spot is still wide open.

The Singapore Smash is officially underway! I honestly think this might be the first major tournament of the year where we get to see almost all the absolute best in both categories
putting their skills on full display.
Ortraga unfortunately dropped out in the first round against Feng from Taiwan, while Gaćina is up tomorrow, though he’s facing a brutal
draw right out of the gate against Jorgic.

Just a quick heads-up on the stakes: the winners of the singles events walk away with $100k USD.

We might just take a quick look at 🍿